Sculpture

Take your digital fabrication skills to a higher level in this advanced virtual workshop all about the CNC router. Demonstrations include design considerations for outputting to a 3-axis CNC, but the emphasis is placed on writing 2D and 3D toolpaths. Students learn everything from feeds and speeds, to bit selection, to 3-axis machine operation. This deep dive into the complex process of computer-aided machining (CAM) empowers participants to push their artistic practices into a new realm of fabrication. Previous CAD (computer-aided design) experience is necessary to enroll in this course. Though no specific software is required for CAD, we will use V-Carve Pro and Fusion 360 for toolpathing. The workshop culminates in a final project to be fabricated on the CNC routers at Anderson Ranch and mailed back to students with shipping and materials covered by the studio fee.  This workshop meets 4-5:30PM on Mondays and Wednesdays for group sessions, and 4-5:30PM for office hours. Please note that the first Tuesday only will be a group session, not office hours. Zoom Video Conferencing software (download free from Zoom.com) will be used to facilitate the class sessions. An Anderson Ranch staff member will coordinate the online platform. Further details will be emailed to registrants.

Anderson Ranch invites you to join our online community to engage in a rigorous and stimulating Critical Dialog Program about the exciting world of contemporary ceramics. Through lectures and discussion each Monday and Wednesday (twice a month for four months), we connect to embark on a variety of topics that are crucial to today’s field of ceramics, giving participants the opportunity to reflect conceptually on this hands-on medium. This fall and winter we focus on the potential for ceramics to be socially engaging. Presenting artists join us in our dialog whose work plays an interactive role. January 11 & 13 – Elyse Pignolet – You Should Calm Down: #Pottery is Political Elyse Pignolet explores how engaging with social issues through her artwork is a way of confronting current political and social injustices. Pignolet discusses the potential for socially committed ceramics addressing themes in her work that deal with female transgression and empowerment, the dialectic between feminism and misogyny, inequality, gender stereotypes, and sexual harassment. She also asks: how does social media play a role in this 20,000-year-old medium? February 8 & 10 – Garth Johnson – No Food in the Galleries: Reinventing the Museum Café Garth Johnson guides us through the Everson Museum of Art’s new project “No Food in the Galleries: Reinventing the Museum Café”. The project uses the Museum café to change the way the Museum shows its ceramics and relates to the public. Garth discusses and present a rogue’s gallery of potters who place radical hospitality at the core of their practice. March 8 & 10 – Kathy King – TMI? Gender and Sexuality in Ceramics Take a brief tour through the history of ceramics to the contemporary to investigate gender and sexuality within ceramics as it pertains to the time and culture in which it was made. King then turns that lens toward her own narrative imagery intended to provoke impressions of gender, sexuality, and the influence of popular culture on our sense of self. April 5 & 7 – Nathan Murray – BIPOC of Nebraska Nathan Murray talks about his experiences creating figurative ceramic work that touches on societal issues of race by representing the stories and experiences of BIPOC Nebraskans in clay.  He explores the need for intersectional activism and creating ties of mutual support, along with the unique role art can play in engaging with people of diverse identities.  Nathan discusses the importance of representation, finding inspiration within the process of creating his work.

Anderson Ranch invites you to join our online community to participate in a stimulating and interactive Critical Dialog Program about the spacious world of contemporary sculpture, installation and performance. Through lectures, readings and discussions with leading contemporary artists, this monthly virtual course explores process, spacial considerations and community activations/engagements. Topics for discussion and exploration include maintaining inspiration within a studio practice, intentional materials choices and strategies for collaboration, participation and intervention. All are welcome to join us in this conversation. January 18 & 20, 2021 - Arthur Simms – An Artist in a Time of Isolation Arthur Simms tells his personal story of maintaining a studio practice while in isolation through using available resources and motivating himself to continue to develop a visual narrative through found objects. Arthur is best known for his found-object sculptures composed of everyday objects such as bicycle wheels, bottles, stones, chairs, rope and wire, his work connects the disparate elements of the diasporic experience. February 15 & 17, 2021- Kalup Linzy – Crossing Boundaries and Merging Media Kalup Linzy discusses how his work explores cultural identities, gender fluidity, and boundaries across various mediums—including video, performance, photography, collage, fashion, television, music, and film. March 15 & 17, 2021 - Cesar Cornejo – Social Practice and the Studio Cesar Cornejo addresses the relationship between the solitude of studio practice and the collaborative spirit of social based practice, focusing on how each feeds into the other and their particular challenges and possibilities when tackling larger problems like a global pandemic. April 19 & 21, 2021 - Kelly Taylor Mitchell – Sensory Installation and its Potential for Creating an Immersive Experience Kelly Taylor Mitchell discusses the elements of an installation that can entrench a participant in time, space, smell, texture and imagery to captivate both physically and emotionally. May 17 & 19, 2021 - Gracelee Lawrence – Digital Erotics: The Biocyborg’s Dilemma Gracelee Lawrence explores the notion of biocyborgism in the tensions between digital and physical materiality. Using the lens of the erotic, or being in relation to the unknown, the idea of biocyborgism is embodied in the fantasy or human evolution choosing soft rather than hard technology.