Robotics and Art: Exploring Ambient Interfaces

This immersive four-day workshop invites participants to discover the powerful intersection of equine-assisted exploration, personal experience, and interdisciplinary art-making through a unique collaboration between WindWalkers and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. A key component of the workshop introduces participants to digital fabrication tools, transforming 2D drawings into 3D forms. Students will create sculptural interpretations of horses, hybrid animals, or imagined creatures—extending their emotional and symbolic responses into new dimensions. The workshop emphasizes themes of connection, embodiment, transformation, and the human–animal relationship, encouraging experimentation, play, and personal expression. Through guided demonstrations and hands-on exploration, students will learn how to move fluidly between image-making, material exploration, and object-based practices, expanding their understanding of what their work can become. Days 1–2: WindWalkers — Equine Experience Participants begin their journey at WindWalkers through engagement with the natural environment and guided equine-assisted experiences. Through simple bookmaking, expressive sketching, and close interaction with horses, students explore presence, trust, emotional awareness, and nonverbal communication. These sessions are designed to foster reflection and personal insight, creating a strong foundation for their creative work. Days 3–4: Anderson Ranch Arts Center — Art Making Participants transition into the studios at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, where they translate their experiences into visual and sculptural form. Working from photographs, sketches, and memories developed during their time with the horses, students will explore both intuitive and structured approaches to art-making. This workshop is perfect for artists, creatives, and seekers of all kinds who are ready to go beyond the canvas — exploring nature, presence, and the wisdom of the herd as a source of creative inspiration.

Join an engaging exploration of the synthesis between two distinct art forms: photography and painting. Students discover transfer techniques that integrate photographic images and text directly onto painted surfaces, resulting in intriguingly layered works. Participants explore traditional collage and photomontage, and master new methods that allow for opaque and translucent layers. Reductive methods, such as sanding and scraping, reveal the history of earlier photographic layers and suggest an archaeological approach to image development. The workshop emphasizes experimentation and exploratory approaches. Students produce a portfolio of physical examples of all techniques.

Anderson Ranch’s January Studio Sessions provide artists the opportunity to work on independent projects while receiving mentoring and critique sessions with Anderson Ranch artistic staff. Each participant receives an assigned studio space, orientation, and access to equipment, as well as some morning group demonstrations and / or critiques. This program affords artists the experience enjoyed by national and international artists who access our state-of-the-art studios. Participants may expand their practices, take artistic risks, try new media or complete works for exhibition. *Studios are open 24 hours a day and on weekends for students enrolled in multiple weeks, with limited use of equipment due to safety requirements. IMPORTANT DETAILS: Students will be responsible for all material costs associated with their projects. Private dorm rooms are available at Anderson Ranch for an additional fee; click here to view January 2027 lodging options. Breakfasts and dinners are included in the dorm fee. Lunches are included in the studio fees. TO APPLY: Applicants must submit project proposals or portfolios for approval. Contact Jack Fox with questions and to apply: [email protected]