Ceramics

Code: C1001-25

    • 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.

Advanced Mentored Studies: The Mold and Matrix: Ceramic Process and Narrative Form

Aug 4 - 15, 2025

9AM - 5PM

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.

2025 is the third year of this three-year intensive program. For more information about our next session of this Advanced Mentored Studies program, which begins in 2026, please contact Betsy Alwin, Visiting Director of Ceramics and Expanded Media at [email protected].

 

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 Colorado State University professor teaching sculpture, digital fabrication, and ceramics. His work is in the permanent collections of the Arizona State University Art Museum, The US State Department Art in Embassies Collection, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

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Ebitenyefa Baralaye, Portrait III

Tuition: $2,510.00
Studio Fee: $250.00
Registration Fee: $45.00

Join Waitlist for Advanced Mentored Studies: The Mold and Matrix: Ceramic Process and Narrative Form

Thank you for your interest in the waitlist. When space in a workshop or program becomes available, registration will open on the website. Everyone on the waitlist will be emailed to alert them of the opening. This ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to register for the workshop or program.

Ceramics

In 1966, American 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 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.

The Soldner Ceramics Center makes up more than 10,000 square feet in three buildings with 3 studio spaces and 1 kiln yard; Soldner Studio, Long Studio, Sorenson Studio and Lyeth/Lyon Kiln Building. Soldner and Long studios are used for wheel-throwing, hand-building, or general ceramics creativity. Sorenson studio is equipped with five PotterBot 3d clay printers. The Lyeth/Lyon kiln building is equipped with gas, electric, soda and wood kilns for both oxidation and reduction firing at all temperature ranges. The Ranch offers three wood kilns including a gas/wood hybrid kiln, three 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 email reg@andersonranch.org with your NCECA membership information and we will send you a code to register and access the discount. Discounts are not available retroactively. You are also welcome to call 970-924-5089 to register. *Please note that the NCECA discount does not apply to Advanced Mentored Studies programs or Destination Workshops, 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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