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Take your art to the next level!
If you are ready to take your practice to the next level, then you are ready to embark on a Master Class at Anderson Ranch. With mentoring from highly skilled teachers who concentrate on aesthetic, technical and conceptual development, your work will improve through group discussions, individual instruction and studio time.
Some Master Classes require a portfolio review. Do NOT let this process deter you! Give us a call so we can walk you through the portfolio review process and help you unleash your potential with rigor and exploration in a Master Class this summer.
Where Are We Going? The Photograph in Contemporary Art
John Edmonds is best known for his use of photography and video to create sensitive portraits and still lifes that center Black queer experiences and reimagine art historical precedents. His first solo museum exhibition, A Sidelong Glance, was on display at the Brooklyn Museum and featured new and recent photographic portraits and still lifes of Central and West African sculptures alongside friends and acquaintances from Edmonds’s creative community in New York. John’s work is in collections worldwide including the Guggenheim, MoMa, The Getty Museum and Yale University Art Gallery.
John will lead participants of his Master Class through presentations, course readings and critiques during this studio workshop in photography. The course strongly encourages a broad interpretation of photography and welcomes artists working with installation.
View John Edmonds in conversation with Elsa Smithgall, Senior Curator, The Phillips Collection in this excerpt from an interview that took place in the artist’s Brooklyn studio, March 11, 2020. John Edmonds on Hoods series and art as social practice.
Putting a Lid on It
In 1971, David MacDonald joined the faculty of the School of Art at Syracuse University; he retired in 2008 at the rank of professor emeritus. Since retiring, David has been actively lecturing and working in his studio.
“You can take this material that has no intrinsic value and turn it into something which is not only beautiful but also useful…My work centers on the notion of the vessel and the type of human connections people develop personally and culturally around vessels.”
-David MacDonald, Ceramics Monthly
This advanced workshop focuses on the variety of issues related to making lidded vessels on the potter’s wheel. There will be demonstrations of the “lidding systems” as well as alternative techniques. The workshop discusses some of the critical concerns of lidded vessels related to proportion and functionality.
Photography: Portraiture and Figuration
Catherine Opie returns to the Ranch to teach a Master Class this summer: Portraiture and Figuration. Catherine is a long-standing friend of the Ranch having taught here for the past 10 years consecutively. Catherine brings a vast level of experience and expertise to the classroom and challenges artists to engage in critical group dialogue and critiques to hone the fundamental aspects of their work and deepen their understanding of contemporary art practice.
“There’s a free environment there to do a certain kind of experimentation…The impact of Anderson Ranch is in opening up possibilities.”
-Catherine Opie
Sculpture: The Engineer and Madam Bricolage are Lovers
Artist and educator, Sheila Pepe, leads a Master Class in her favorite studio methods of accumulation, construction, and “taking apart and putting- back together,” all the while subjecting outcomes to tests of complexity, legibility, and aesthetic resolve. Open to all media from metal to found materials to fabric, this class encourages participants to come with their own set of studio practices and concerns, but to be looking for an opportunity to grow and expand their work.
In My Neighbor’s Garden, a recent installation at Madison Square Park, Sheila Pepe uses the humble art of crochet to shape space and build community.
“Up high, in my overalls and my crochet hook in hand, on top of a drivable scissor lift, it’s the funniest gender joke in the world for me,”said the 63-year-old artist, who identifies as lesbian.“Now you’re Grandma! Now you’re Uncle Joe!”
Read more about her work in The New York Times.
Featured Workshops
Additional Resources
Reach Out
Are you overwhelmed by workshop options? Or do you know which workshop to take but are unsure about the skill level, faculty, or techniques? Our staff is ready to answer questions and assist in selecting the perfect workshop for your next creative journey. Please feel free to reach out any time and we can point you in the right direction!
Betsy Alwin
Director of Ceramics and Expanded Media
Call: 970-924-5054
Liz Ferrill
Artistic Director of Painting, Drawing & Printmaking
Call: 970-924-5076
Andrea Jenkins Wallace
Artistic Director of Photography and New Media
Call: 970-924-5044