Anderson Ranches Summer Series: Featured Artists and Conversations presents five conversations between renowned members of the art world. The series runs from July 9 to August 8.
When we think of the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, we most likely think of the workshops that can be taken there year-round in their seven disciplines: photography and new media, ceramics, painting and drawing, furniture design and woodworking, sculpture, engraving and digital manufacturing. .
These workshops are part of the idea of a school and are at the heart of their mission. But Anderson Ranch has always made the distinction that they are not just a school, they are a center after all, that's in their name.
Anderson Ranchs' mission statement is to enrich people's lives with art, inspiration and community. It's the community that takes Anderson Ranch from just a school to a center.
This summer, in addition to dozens of workshops held through September 20, Anderson Ranch is offering several free events that bring the community together to experience art.
The annual art auction and community picnic will take place on Saturday, July 13, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. More than 130 works of art will be on display and up for silent auction. There will be live music, art activities for children, a picnic and much more.
“For 42 years, Anderson Ranch has hosted an annual summer picnic and art auction. This incredible celebration makes Anderson Ranch Arts Center a community hub that supports the artistic growth of thousands of people each year,” said Peter Waanders, President and CEO of Anderson Ranch. . “Our mission allows us all to explore techniques, ideas and ways to share and communicate our unique voices. Art allows us to connect, learn and understand. The amazing works up for auction are offered by artists and friends, past and present faculty, artists in residence, speakers and students who believe in the importance of what Anderson Ranch offers. We are very grateful for their support and are excited to share it with. the community on this special day of the year.
The arts center hosts three different free lecture series throughout the summer, comparable to those you might find at MOMA in New York or the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
Free lectures are given by professors and guest artists throughout the summer, at 7 p.m., Sundays and Tuesdays. These talks focus on the speakers' work, their inspiration, their creative process and much more.
More than 130 works of art will be on display at the annual Anderson Ranches Art Auction and Community Picnic, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., July 13.
Anderson Ranch is hosting two conversation-based lecture series this summer, the Critical Dialogue Lectures and the Summer Series: Featured Artists and Conversations. The first offers two conversations and the second five different dialogues.
The inaugural critical dialogue program Mothers of Invention: The Feminist Roots of Contemporary Art will take place June 26 from 10 a.m. to noon. The program features a conversation between writers and curators Eleanor Heartney, Helaine Posner, Nancy Princenthal and Sue Scott, who will discuss their book, Mothers of Invention: The Feminist Roots of Contemporary Art. Ann Hamilton, a multimedia installation artist featured in the book, will participate in the discussion.
From 10 a.m. to noon July 29, Critical Dialogue will feature Jason Moran, Alicia Hall Moran, and Adam Pendleton in a conversation titled Collaboration Between Sight, Sound, and Performance. This program examines the connections between music and the visual arts and how collaboration between musicians and artists has become commonplace over the years.
The Critical Dialogue program offers a unique and interactive approach to discussing contemporary art and the current connections that connect artists working today, Anderson Ranch Artistic Director Liz Ferrill said in a press release. In these difficult times, our 2024 programming focuses on the positivity of interdisciplinary collaboration. This essential component of the work of many artists will be addressed as a main theme in the two programs offered this summer.
Anderson Ranches' third lecture series is their Summer Series: Featured Artists and Conversations, which includes five presentations at Schermer Meeting Hall that are free and open to the public. The program includes some of the art world's most influential artists, curators, collectors and critics.
The series was curated by Cultured magazine editor Sarah Harrelson.
“It’s been such an incredible opportunity to work with Anderson Ranch on their prestigious summer series,” Harrelson said in an interview. My goal was to choose artists who are at very important inflection points in their careers and pair them with interesting partners for a meaningful and engaging dialogue with some of the best artists working today.
The series begins July 9, with Charles Gaines in dialogue with Rodney McMillan. Gaines has been a central figure in the field of conceptual art, exploring relationships between the objective and the subjective in a variety of mediums. Gaines taught at the CalArts School of Arts for 30 years, where he established a fellowship to provide scholarships for black students in the MFA program.
Charles Gaines is the ideal recipient of the 2024 International Artist Award, Waanders said. Charles has been a central figure in conceptual art since the 1970s, continually advancing his practice, while leading a 30-year career as a professor at CalArts, teaching and mentoring generations of artists.
McMillan was one of Gaines' students at CalArts. Her work explores the intersection of race, class, gender, and socioeconomic issues. It was included in the 2022 Whitney Biennial.
On July 18 at 12:30 p.m., Harrelson will engage in conversation with renowned art critic Jerry Saltz. Saltz has been an art critic at New York magazine since 2007. He received the Pulitzer Prize for art criticism in 2018 and is considered a major voice in the art world.
Pedro Reyes will meet Mia Locks at 12:30 p.m. on July 25. Reyes is a sculptor who uses performance, video and activism in his work to incite change through communication, creativity and humor. In 2008, Reyes launched the Palas por Pistolas project in Mexico, where 1,527 firearms were collected in Mexico and 1,527 trees were planted in exchange for the weapons.
Mia Locks is an independent curator and executive director of Museums Moving Forward. She was previously a curator at MoMA PS1, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
On August 1 at 12:30 p.m., Derek Fordjour will participate in a conversation with Sophia Cohen. Fordjour, who lives in works in New York, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Ghanaian parents. He works in collage, video/film, sculpture and painting. His work is held in numerous collections, including the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, SFMOMA, the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art. Cohen is a curator who works with artists, clients and institutions to curate projects. She chairs both the Guggenheims Young Collectors Council and the Milken Institutes Young Leaders Circle.
The guest speaker series concludes at 12:30 p.m. on August 8 with a conversation between Hilary Pecis and Benjamin Godsill.
Pecis makes collages using paper, magazine scraps, spray paint, ink and glitter. She also creates digital collages, paintings and drawings, sometimes cutting them out for use on paper with saturated colors, domestic geometric structures, still lifes and landscape environments.
Godsill is a curator, arts advisor and podcaster. He is considered a major authority in the art of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, among other publications. Godsil has worked with some of the world's leading private collectors to build contemporary art collections.
The conferences are all free. Lunch is available at the Ranch Café starting at 11 a.m. before the 12:30 p.m. summer lectures. Registration is encouraged; visit andersonranch.org.
