Companion Pottery

This workshop focuses on the exchange of ideas involved in working in clay related to form and function with sculptural intention. Demonstrations cover the use of the wheel and the hand-building construction. Instructors Randy and Jan Johnston explore their process through dialogue and conversations between each other and the participants. Discussions look at why one chooses their object, and how life experiences inform the artist’s journey. This is a rare opportunity to spend uninterrupted time with internationally recognized ceramic artists and affords students a unique exploration of clay, expanding their knowledge of new and traditional techniques, including surface decorations, wood firing, soda, gas and glaze as well as understanding a deeper relationship to contemporary ceramics. To attend a Master Class workshop, a portfolio review is due by Friday, February 11th, 2022. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio are as follows: Submit digital images of your work in one single PDF (as opposed to individual JPG attachments) via email directly to Anderson Ranch Studio Coordinator, Louise Deroualle at lderoualle@andersonranch.org. The single PDF must be less than 10 MB to be considered. Include 5-10 images of your work with image identification that lists the title, media, dimensions and year of each image. While not required, it is helpful to see an artist statement addressing the images you send. Include “Advanced Portfolio Review” in the subject line of your email, as well as the title of the workshop for which you are applying. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached and a link to your website. Submissions that do not follow the requested directions will not be reviewed. To be considered, we must receive portfolios by 5 PM MST Friday, Feb. 11th, 2022. If we receive your materials after Feb. 11th, you will be considered on a space-available basis. We will email you regarding your status on or before Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. If you are accepted, a deposit of $500 will be required within one week of notification of acceptance to hold your place. Housing will be assigned on a space-available basis upon enrollment.

Historical events like the 1680 Pueblo Revolt may not immediately spring to mind when you think of science fiction, but blending age-old traditional methods with contemporary clay techniques traverses into the future. Using visual storytelling, students learn about the central cast of characters from Ortiz's screenplay Revolt 1680/2180 and how they shape the fantastical world he's creating with clay and multimedia art. Using a unique coil and scrape building process and carving methods, participants examine, explore and build a mid-sized scale bust. Students also create a personal rendition and interpretation of Virgil Ortiz's latest character to be revealed and exhibited at Vladem Contemporary Museum, Fall 2022.

This workshop provides a unique opportunity for students to develop their individual artistic voice using the material vocabulary of form, function, color and surface to create work that can evoke emotion, deliver poetic metaphor, make connections to cultural histories and resonate sentiment. Utilitarian ceramic objects are landmarks of the physical, emotional and relational topographies we use to navigate our lived stories around food, self and each other. As thoughtful makers, students consider the larger purposes served by their work, incorporating layers of meaning. Students are not just making bowls to hold soup–they build receptive space into experience, to find moments of compassion and generosity in a handheld vessel. Students refine their works through dialogue, drawings and writings while exploring methods such as pinching, coiling, throwing and altering, solid prototyping, press molding and reductive shaping. Special attention is given to the development of color and surface qualities through creative glaze chemistry experiments that are grounded in scientific methodology, but driven by artistic intuition.