Painting & Drawing

Make, reflect, consider, engage—these are all critical elements of the Painting and Drawing workshops at Anderson Ranch. Our exceptional workshops combine focused, hands-on art making with critical feedback for artists of all levels. Painting and Drawing guest faculty are phenomenal artists and educators with experience supporting students by offering technical knowledge and encouragement.

The bright, natural light of the Wyly Painting and Drawing Building provides an inspiring environment where students can explore and expand their artistic practice. Our facilities are equipped with individual worktables, wall space, easels, rolling palettes, odorless solvents, a wide range of hand tools, computer access with Adobe software, wifi, printing, scanning, and projection capabilities. Spend a week here— or several—and engage in a variety of activities that will fuel your practice throughout the year.

Lindsey Yeager

Studio Coordinator, Paint and Printmaking

Fueled by a need to find closure in a deteriorating world, Wisconsin-born Lindsey Yeager paints and illustrates connections between society and nature, between human and animal, translating and reframing human contexts into fearful, raw, and feral allegories. Lindsey received a BFA in New Studio Practice and Illustration from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in 2021 and she went on to win two Society of Illustrators awards and participate in the 2021-22 cycle of Plum Blossom Initiative’s Bridge Work residency. Her work has been shown at Var Gallery, Mana Contemporary, Soft Times Gallery, Museum of Wisconsin Art, and Society of Illustrators, among others. Lindsey is represented by Var Gallery in Milwaukee.

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Liz Ferrill

Artistic Director of Painting, Drawing & Printmaking; Artists-in-Residence Program; Critical Dialogue Program

Liz Ferrill is the Artistic Director of Painting, Drawing and Printmaking at Anderson Ranch. She received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has had solo exhibitions nationally and internationally, including in Aspen, Nashville, Omaha, New York City, and Berlin, Germany.

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Anderson Ranch Campus

Upcoming Workshops

  • III

    Level III

    Students have formal training in critical issues of 2-­D art making, experience with public critiques and a solid portfolio of their artwork.

  • IV

    Level IV

    Students have advanced skill and knowledge of painting and drawing. Students are highly motivated and self­-directed, have a minimum of five years experience in their field and have multiple portfolios of their artwork. Portfolio review is required for admittance to some Level IV classes.

Aug 18 - 22, 2025
9AM-5PM

Abstraction: Sources in Nature

Holly Hughes

Tuition $1,415
Code D1225-25

Crack the nut of abstraction while infusing art with the vigor of visual experience. In this workshop, students use natural objects, landscape, and historical, 20th-century, and contemporary art to glean strategies for the studio. Prompts include a menu of classic and innovative approaches for creating abstractions and semi-abstract landscapes in drawing and painting. With an emphasis on color, form, composition, and surface inspired by fresh sources, students investigate new terrain, gain hands-on skill, and formulate new avenues of research. * This workshop is a program that includes joint critiques and discussions with Linda Geary's workshop, “Painting: Making and Dialogue.” The two faculty are teaching separate workshops but coordinating larger discussions and critiques between the two classes.

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  • O

    Open to All

    Students of any skill and knowledge level.

Aug 18 - 22, 2025
9AM-5PM

Reinventing the Still Life

Karen Lederer

Tuition $1,415
Code D1227-25

Discover how to take ordinary still-life paintings to the next level. In this mixed-media painting class, we learn about contemporary artists whose exciting work fits into the still-life genre for inspiration. We then set up our own compositions, and learn techniques to fill our paintings with meaning, wonder, pattern, form, color relationships, and dynamic compositions. The class focuses on experimenting with abstract mark-making as well as representational imagery. We discover different ways of using acrylic and delve into techniques such as collage, pochoir, stencils, and trace monotype to create new and surprising marks.

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  • III

    Level III

    Students have formal training in critical issues of 2-­D art making, experience with public critiques and a solid portfolio of their artwork.

  • IV

    Level IV

    Students have advanced skill and knowledge of painting and drawing. Students are highly motivated and self­-directed, have a minimum of five years experience in their field and have multiple portfolios of their artwork. Portfolio review is required for admittance to some Level IV classes.

Aug 18 - 22, 2025
9AM-5PM

Painting: Making and Dialogue

Linda Geary

Tuition $1,480
Code D1226-25

This advanced painting workshop is for students working in any painting medium, and is designed to be a catalyst for making art within a broadly-defined painting language. Students work on individual projects while digging into experimental processes that boost the forward momentum of their work. Presentations, prompts, and critiques support purposeful discussions addressing how the work is communicating. Questions and topics covered include: How can time be captured through color? What is tactile knowledge? Who are your art ancestors and what is their role in the building of your visual language? What and how does your work communicate within the context of contemporary art? * This workshop is a program that includes joint critiques and discussions with Holly Hughes’ workshop, “Abstractions in Nature.” The two faculty are teaching separate workshops, but coordinating larger discussions and critiques between the two classes.

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