Recognition Week Celebration

Thank You!

A huge thanks goes out to all who joined in the Anderson Ranch Recognition Week held July 12-16th. We were thrilled to celebrate our 2021 International Artist Honoree Simone Leigh and enjoyed special appearances by The Guerrilla Girls, featured collaborations with Aspen Film, Aspen Words, Jazz Aspen Snowmass and much more! Below is a look back at the Week’s experiences and highlights.

Simone Leigh

2021 International Artist Honoree

Simone Leigh’s practice incorporates sculpture, video, and installation; all are informed by her ongoing exploration of black female-identified subjectivity. Leigh spoke at a Summer Series: Featured Artists and Conversations lecture hosted by literary scholar Saidiya Hartman, and took part in several other marquee events throughout the week. Click here to view a recording of the conversation.

Leigh will represent the United States at the next Venice Biennale in April 2022. The first African-American woman to receive this honor, among the art world’s most prestigious, she was selected by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs on the recommendation of museum professionals and artists convened by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Featuring: The Guerrilla Girls

The Guerrilla Girls are feminist activist artists. They wear gorilla masks in public and use facts, humor and outrageous visuals to expose gender and ethnic bias as well as corruption in politics, art, film, and pop culture.

During their visit to Anderson Ranch, the Guerrilla Girls led a Critical Dialog program with round table discussions about the fight for equality in the art world as well as a hands-on print making seminar. They also participated in a highly attended public lecture in which they showcased examples of their most powerful work from the 1980’s to present. Click here to view a recording of their presentation.

Dinner & A Movie: Babette’s Feast

In Partnership with Aspen Film

This five-course dinner was inspired by the food of Babette’s Feast, one of Honoree Simone Leigh’s favorite films. The food, prepared by Anderson Ranch’s own Cafe, was a beautiful and tasty tribute to the movie with dishes that matched the cadence of the film course-for-course.

Lizz Wright Concert

In Partnership with Jazz Aspen Snowmass

Acclaimed vocalist Lizz Wright is a steward of American music bringing brilliant color and vibrancy to singular original works and compositions by some of the greatest songwriters of our time. This was Wright’s first post-Covid performance and the sold-out audience of Anderson Ranch supporters and jazz fans proved to be a highly energetic and engaging crowd. The first jazz concert hosted at the Ranch in over 30 years, we are looking forward to more music in Schermer Meeting Hall in years to come!

Saidiya Hartman Literary Reading

In Partnership with Aspen Words

Saidiya Hartman, literary scholar, cultural historian and 2019 MacArthur Fellow recipient has been a Guggenheim Fellow, Cullman Fellow and Fulbright Scholar. Hartman participated in an intimate reading from her book Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals. A candid and thought provoking conversation took place hosted by Anderson Ranch’s President & CEO Peter Waanders, discussing the role of race and racism in the art world and the country at large. Each participant received a copy of her book and many took part in the lively question and answer session following the talk.

Recognition Dinner

The Ranch studios welcomed guests in a whole new way as they were transformed into “Inspiration Row”, hosting a series of specialty cocktails and tastings such as: Soldner’s Tequila in the ceramics studio, Takashi’s Sake in the kiln yard, and Whiskey & Bourbon in the Wood Barn paired with a live woodturning demonstration. A jewelry lounge pop-up courtesy of Lugano Diamonds added additional sparkle to the cocktail hour.

Guests were then ushered into the tent for dinner featuring a heartfelt awards presentation in honor of Simone Leigh, 2021 International Artist Honoree. This was followed by a lively paddle raise in support of Anderson Ranch’s scholarship programming. The evening concluded with desserts, drinks and dancing during an afterparty dreamed up by Omar Hernandez of Omar’s NYC and music curated by New York City’s DJ Yacine.

The Anderson Ranch staff and Board of Trustees could not be more grateful for the fantastic turnout and amazing support from all those who attended the 2021 Recognition Week. Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you at our ongoing events throughout the remainder of the summer!

Recognition Dinner Photos

There were so many fantastic photos taken on our custom made Step & Repeat backdrop that we would like to share them all!

Click here to view all of the images. Please download and share any that you would like. Don’t forget to tag us @andersonranchartscenter or #andersonranch.

Thank you!