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Ceramics

Code: C1013-24

    • IV

      Level IV

      Students have advanced skills and knowledge of the ceramics field. Students are highly motivated, have a minimum of five years experience in the field and have a portfolio of their artwork. Typical students are academics and professional artists.

The Center: The Mold and Matrix: Ceramic Process and Narrative Form

Aug 5 - 16, 2024

9 AM - 5 PM

Concept

This three-year mentorship program is intended for ceramic artists interested in critical feedback and immersion in a creative community and who are at a point of transition in their lives, careers, or artistic practices. Emphasis is placed on seeking connections, metaphors, and symmetries between processes for forming clay and developing ways of generating meaning. The objects we make tell stories and propose worlds; a coil and a mold are both techniques for forming clay and also propositions about the meaningful interface of material, body, mind, economy, and culture. We focus on ways stories emerge from physical objects and how narratives give structure to physical form. We welcome participants from many different backgrounds and experiences, centering on work in clay but with the potential for different outcomes, including work in other materials, writing, sculpture, and design.

2024 is the second year of this three-year intensive program. For more information about our next session of The Center, which begins in 2026, please contact Betsy Alwin, Visiting Director of Ceramics and Expanded Media at balwin@andersonranch.org.

 

Faculty

Ebitenyefa Baralaye

Ebitenyefa Baralaye is a ceramicist, sculptor, and educator. His work explores objects, text, bodies, and patterns abstracted through a diaspora lens and the aesthetics of craft. Baralaye’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He is currently an assistant professor in Ceramics at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI.

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Del Harrow

Del Harrow lives and works in Fort Collins, CO with his wife, potter Sanam Emami and their son, William. He is a professor at Colorado State University where he teaches sSculpture, digital fabrication, and cCeramics. His work is in the permanent collections of the Arizona State University Art Museum, tThe US State Department Art in Embassies Collection, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

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Ebitenyefa Baralaye, Portrait III

Tuition: $2,250.00
Studio Fee: $250.00
Registration Fee: $45.00

Join Waitlist for The Center: The Mold and Matrix: Ceramic Process and Narrative Form

Ceramics

In 1966, American raku ceramicist Paul Soldner selected the site for what is now Anderson Ranch Arts Center, forming the foundation for a thriving ceramics program. Then and now, Anderson Ranch is a place where students exchange ideas and examine ceramic art and pottery-making techniques. It has always been a place where seminal moments of growth happen in an artist’s creative and critical thinking. Here, both beginning and emerging artists gain strong fundamental support, while established artists achieve new perspectives and advance their techniques.

The Ranch Ceramics team provides support, feedback and technical problem solving, giving each artist the freedom to experiment and grow. Our primary focus is on personal advancement through a process of creative discovery. We also offer community engagement through events like our Locals’ Clubs “Circle of Fire” where artists engage with the Ranch outside of the workshop setting.

The Soldner Ceramics Center makes up more than 10,000 square feet in three buildings. The Lyeth/Lyon kiln building is equipped with gas, electric, soda and wood kilns for both oxidation and reduction firings at all temperature ranges. The Ranch offers three wood kilns, four gas reduction kilns, one soda kiln and eleven high-temperature electric kilns.

Anderson Ranch is happy to extend a 20% tuition discount* in summer one- or two-week adult workshops for NCECA members. Please register online and then email reg@andersonranch.org with your membership information and we will make the adjustment once you are in the system. You are also welcome to call 970-924-5089 to register. *Please note that the NCECA discount does not apply to The Center / Advanced Mentored Studies program, nor can it be combined with any other discount, scholarship or special offer. 

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Workshop Details

Lodging & Meals

Housing is limited and includes shared and private lodging options. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. The earlier you reserve housing, the better your chance of receiving your preferred option. Please note: Workshop costs do not include accommodations. 

We have established a Business Safety Plan with added layers of precaution that prioritize the health and safety of our staff, students, faculty and guests while continuing to provide you with the Anderson Ranch experience that you know and enjoy.

The Ranch Café meal plan that is included with Room and Board fees strives to provide healthy, creative meals that will nourish your artistic creativity. The meal plan includes 5 days of continental breakfasts that will include a hot offering, 5 lunches with a selection of offerings, and 5 dinners.

 

Scholarships, College Credit & Discounts

Making Art Accessible

Applications for scholarship support are encouraged. Specific scholarships are funded by Ranch supporters, either through endowed funds or special gifts.

Many colleges and universities offer college credit for workshops taken at Anderson Ranch. Discounts are available for students and teachers.

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    Jan 8 - 26, 2024
    Monday-Friday, 9AM-5PM
    Participants may register for one, two, or three weeks.
    TUITION is $1050 per week or $3150 for three weeks.

    January Studio Sessions: Ceramics

    Joanne Seongweon Lee

    Tuition $1,050
    Code ZSC0101-24

    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 and interns. 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. The machine rooms are only available when monitored – weekdays 9 AM-5 PM. Evening monitoring hours are Mondays - Thursdays, 7 – 9 PM. IMPORTANT DETAILS: Students will be responsible for all material costs associated with their projects. Participants who register for multiple consecutive weeks will gain access to the studios on weekends (with the exception of the machine rooms due to safety constraints.) Private dorm rooms are available at Anderson Ranch for one, two or three weeks for an additional fee; please inquire for details and availability. Applicants must submit project proposals or portfolios for approval. Contact Betsy Alwin to apply: balwin@andersonranch.org

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    • I

      Level I

      Students are new to ceramics and have no formal training.

    • II

      Level II

      Students have a basic understanding of forming techniques, such as throwing and hand building. Students have taken one or two ceramics classes or workshops.

    Jun 3 - 14, 2024
    9AM - 5PM

    Path into Practice: Wheel Throwing and the Creative Process

    Yutaka Kawahito

    Tuition $1,450
    Code C0101-24

    This beginner-friendly workshop focuses on developing basic and intermediate wheel throwing, surface treatment, and firing skills, aligning them with key elements of the creative process. Covering the basic skills of centering, throwing off the hump, and teapot assembly, the course meets individual participants where they are, giving them new perspectives to broaden their creative horizons. Sources of inspiration and personal creative growth accompany skill building through discussions about observation, time, energy, and focus. Daily demonstration, sketching, practice, and assessment help students expand their practices. This course aligns the how and why in service of fresh directions and an open mind.

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    • O

      Open to All

      Students of any skill and knowledge level.

    Jun 3 - 7, 2024
    9AM - 5PM

    Explorations in Kiln-Formed Glass and Ceramics

    Kelly Witmer

    Tuition $1,200
    Code C0102-24

    This one-week workshop delves into the process of combining ceramic and glass in a technique known as slumping. Gravity and heat from a kiln shapes sheet glass into a mold. Simple commercial molds are available for this process, usually to produce a dish, bowl, or vase form, but here students take this process in a different direction, making sculptural objects by including the ceramic “mold” as part of the finished work. Students create ceramic forms and experiment with several glass firings to truly understand the stages of glass as it melts in the kiln, gaining the knowledge to develop this technique within their own practice.

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