Anderson Ranch Arts Center 2014 Annual Report | Page 7

“Anderson Ranch: This place, these people. It’s changed my life for the better.
Thank you, and I can’t wait to be back” - Workshop Student, Summer 2014

summer workshops
Summer workshops at Anderson Ranch provide artists of all
experience levels the opportunity to develop new skills and
techniques in an atmosphere of collaboration and respect.
The faculty are carefully selected for not only for their artistic
talent and expertise, but also for their ability to instruct and
inspire students.
In the summer of 2014, Anderson Ranch conducted 131
adult summer workshops, which are the heart of our
programming. Artists of all skill levels, from beginners to
experts, came to the Ranch between June and September
to explore new mediums or further develop existing skills.
Our adult workshops encompassed ceramics, photography
& new media, furniture design & woodworking, sculpture,
woodturning, digital fabrication, painting & drawing and
printmaking.
New to the studio facilities is a designated Digital Fabrication
Lab (FabLab). With generous support from the Windgate
Foundation, we renovated the Sorensen Seminar Room,
and purchased and installed new digital equipment including
four 3-D Makerbot printers, an Epilog laser cutter/engraver,
a large-format Roland vinyl cutter, a digital scanner and the
important computing software to power these tools. A large
computer numerically controlled (CNC) plasma cutter was
installed in the Sculpture studio as well.
These advanced digital production tools increase the
capacity for Ranch artists to explore and innovate their
artistic practice. They also allow artists to experiment and
see creative options not possible using traditional art making

techniques. The technology now available at the Ranch is a
component - a celebration - of the hand and mind working
together in the art making process.
Our 16 children’s workshops offered youngsters ages 4–12
a unique opportunity to be involved in a quality art program
that went beyond the typical summer art class. Architectural
buildings, Japanese tea ceremonies and Jurassic dinosaurs
are just a few of the subjects explored, stimulating
children’s imaginations this past summer. A focus on art and
technology included the addition of LEGO Art and Robotics
workshops to the children’s curriculum. For our teen artists,
t-shirts and posters were created in the screen printing
class, while other teens designed their own photographic
kites.
In 2014, 1,102 adults and children participated in the Summer
Workshop Program. For many students, scholarships are
integral to their participation, and Anderson Ranch awarded
$211,306 in scholarships to 289 students, representing
26% of our student body.
The Ranch continued international programming in 2014
with our popular Destination Workshops. In April, Doug
Casebeer, Artistic Director of Ceramics, led an excursion to
Jamaica, along with guest faculty Christa Assad. Allowing
artists to create work outside of their familiar environment
was inspiring for the group, who worked at a studio housed
on the grounds of the Good Hope Plantation — once home
to a prosperous 18th-century sugar estate overlooking the
Queen of Spain Valley and the Cockpit Mountains. This
artistic expedition focused on the fundamentals of ceramics,
using both the wheel and constructed hand-built forms.
summer workshops

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