
Master Classes
Take Your Practice Further
Master Classes at Anderson Ranch Arts Center are highly selective, limited-enrollment workshops which provide advanced students with even greater access to world-renowned artists and educators. These rigorous classes are geared toward professional and committed artists who want to take their work to the next level with mentoring from master teachers, but who may not have the time for a years-long committed mentorship or residency. In the interest of continuity, some Master Classes also offer additional virtual sessions following the in-person summer workshop. Master classes require a portfolio review for admission.
Concentrating on aesthetic, technical and conceptual development, classes specifically address how to improve one’s work through group discussions, individual sessions with the instructor and studio time. Students dive deeply into the dynamics of their art-making and medium. The goal is to unleash a student’s potential with rigor and exploration, direction and critique. Our Master Classes are a dynamic new offering as well as an essential addition to our artistic programs.
Upcoming Workshops

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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.
Jul 17 - 21, 2023
9AM-5PM
Master Class: Whitney Johnson and Kris Graves and Long Term Projects
Kris Graves, Whitney Johnson
Tuition $1,295
Code P0713-23
In this masterclass, students develop their documentary or narrative-based projects with renowned photographer Kris Graves and creative executive Whitney Johnson, with the goal of completing a body of work and preparing it for distribution outlets. Over the course of a one-week workshop and additional virtual mentorship meetings, participants get advice on researching and producing their projects, receive feedback/critique on their aesthetic approach, edit and sequence their work, hear real-life case studies from guest artists, and actively participate in a creative community of peers. This workshop also will meet virtually in December for a final critique session. Portfolios will be accepted on a rolling basis. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio are as follows: Submit digital images of your work in one single PDF (as opposed to individual JPG attachments) via email directly to Anderson Ranch Workshop Manager Esther Nooner at enooner@andersonranch.org The single PDF must be less than 10 MB to be considered. Include 5-10 images of your work with image identification that lists the title, media, dimensions and year of each image. While not required, it is helpful to see an artist statement addressing the images you send. Include “Advanced Portfolio Review” in the subject line of your email, as well as the title of the workshop for which you are applying. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached and a link to your website. Submissions that do not follow the requested directions will not be reviewed. If you are accepted, a deposit of $650 will be required within one week of notification of acceptance to hold your place. Housing will be assigned on a space-available basis upon enrollment.

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IV
Level IV
Students have advanced skill and knowledge of painting and drawing. Students are highly motivated and self-directed, have a minimum of five years experience in their field and have multiple portfolios of their artwork. Portfolio review is required for admittance to some Level IV classes.
Jul 17 - 21, 2023
9AM-5PM
Master Class: Advanced Painting: Making and Dialog
Linda Geary
Tuition $1,250
Code D0712-23
This advanced painting workshop is for students working in any medium and is designed to be a catalyst for making art within a broadly-defined painting language. Students work on individual projects while digging into experimental processes that boost the forward momentum of their work. Presentations, prompts, and critiques support purposeful discussions that address how work is communicating. Questions and topics covered include: How can time be captured through color? What is tactile knowledge? Who are your art ancestors, and what is their role in the building of your visual language? What and how does your work communicate within the context of contemporary art? Students are asked to bring a digital portfolio of current studio work. Portfolios will be accepted on a rolling basis. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio are as follows: Submit digital images of your work in one single PDF (as opposed to individual JPG attachments) via email directly to Artistic Director Liz Ferrill at lferrill@andersonranch.org The single PDF must be less than 10 MB to be considered. Include 5-10 images of your work with image identification that lists the title, media, dimensions and year of each image. While not required, it is helpful to see an artist statement addressing the images you send. Include “Advanced Portfolio Review” in the subject line of your email, as well as the title of the workshop for which you are applying. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached and a link to your website. Submissions that do not follow the requested directions will not be reviewed. If you are accepted, a deposit of $650 will be required within one week of notification of acceptance to hold your place. Housing will be assigned on a space-available basis upon enrollment.

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IV
Level IV
Students have advanced skill and knowledge of the printmaking fields. Students are highly motivated and self-directed, have a minimum of five years experience in their field, and have multiple portfolios of their artwork. Portfolio review is required for admittance to some Level IV classes.
Jul 17 - 21, 2023
9AM-5PM
Master Class: Advanced Printmaking: Topics and Techniques
Judy Pfaff, Brian Shure
Tuition $1,350
Code R0706-23
This unique opportunity for advanced printmakers creates a forum for dialog about how to curate their practice to push work into a strong direction. Artists are invited to work on self-directed projects in the printmaking area of their choosing while receiving technical support in tandem with critical feedback. Opportunities for technical demonstrations, group critique, and one-on-one mentorship make up the structure of this master class. Brian Shure will be present for the entire duration of the workshop; Judy Pfaff will join daily from 1 to 5 pm. Portfolios will be accepted on a rolling basis. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio are as follows: Submit digital images of your work in one single PDF (as opposed to individual JPG attachments) via email directly to Artistic Director Liz Ferrill at lferrill@andersonranch.org The single PDF must be less than 10 MB to be considered. Include 5-10 images of your work with image identification that lists the title, media, dimensions and year of each image. While not required, it is helpful to see an artist statement addressing the images you send. Include “Advanced Portfolio Review” in the subject line of your email, as well as the title of the workshop for which you are applying. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached and a link to your website. Submissions that do not follow the requested directions will not be reviewed. If you are accepted, a deposit of $650 will be required within one week of notification of acceptance to hold your place. Housing will be assigned on a space-available basis upon enrollment.

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IV
Level IV
Students have advanced skill and knowledge of painting and drawing. Students are highly motivated and self-directed, have a minimum of five years experience in their field and have multiple portfolios of their artwork. Portfolio review is required for admittance to some Level IV classes.
Jul 31 - Aug 4, 2023
9AM-5PM
Master Class: The Elements and Concerns of Painting
Meleko Mokgosi
Tuition $1,250
Code D0916-23
In this master class workshop for advanced painters, students investigate their intentions and concerns within their painting practice while working at a rigorous pace in the studio. The class consists of one-on-one and group critiques, discussions, readings, and ample studio time to make new inquiries into their work. Participants are challenged to explore new avenues and dive deep into the content and methods behind their practice. Topics for discussion are narrative structures, research methodologies, discursive frameworks, color and gesture, symbolism, and more. Students are asked to bring a digital portfolio of recent work to share with the class. The instructor teaches only from 9 am – 3 pm. The Artistic Director of Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking teaches from 3 – 5pm. Portfolios will be accepted on a rolling basis. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio are as follows: Submit digital images of your work in one single PDF (as opposed to individual JPG attachments) via email directly to Artistic Director Liz Ferrill at lferrill@andersonranch.org The single PDF must be less than 10 MB to be considered. Include 5-10 images of your work with image identification that lists the title, media, dimensions and year of each image. While not required, it is helpful to see an artist statement addressing the images you send. Include “Advanced Portfolio Review” in the subject line of your email, as well as the title of the workshop for which you are applying. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached and a link to your website. Submissions that do not follow the requested directions will not be reviewed. If you are accepted, a deposit of $650 will be required within one week of notification of acceptance to hold your place. Housing will be assigned on a space-available basis upon enrollment.

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IV
Level IV
Students have advanced skills and knowledge of sculpture. Students are highly motivated, have a minimum of five years experience in the field and have multiple portfolios of their artwork. Typical students are academics and professional artists.
Jul 31 - Aug 4, 2023
9AM - 5PM
Master Class: Advanced Sculpture, Studio and Critique
Brent Howard
Tuition $1,250
Code S0909-23
This advanced sculpture workshop is for students working in any 3-D medium and is designed to be a catalyst for making art within a broadly-defined language. Students work on individual projects while embarking on new approaches to processes that boost the forward momentum of their work. During this rigorous and in-depth workshop, participants ask themselves how work communicates within the context of contemporary art in a critique setting. Each student works at their own pace in the studio, sharing with a community of peers and pushing the content and form of their work. Students are asked to bring a digital portfolio of recent work to share with the class. Please submit your portfolio by January 27th for priority consideration. Portfolios will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis. Portfolios will be accepted on a rolling basis. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio are as follows: Submit digital images of your work in one single PDF (as opposed to individual JPG attachments) via email directly to Sculpture Studio Coordinator Teddy Andriese at tandriese@andersonranch.org The single PDF must be less than 10 MB to be considered. Include 5-10 images of your work with image identification that lists the title, media, dimensions and year of each image. While not required, it is helpful to see an artist statement addressing the images you send. Include “Advanced Portfolio Review” in the subject line of your email, as well as the title of the workshop for which you are applying. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached and a link to your website. Submissions that do not follow the requested directions will not be reviewed. If you are accepted, a deposit of $650 will be required within one week of notification of acceptance to hold your place. Housing will be assigned on a space-available basis upon enrollment

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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.
Aug 7 - 11, 2023
9AM-5PM
Master Class: Home, Reimagining Interiority
Dr. Deborah Willis
Tuition $1,295
Code P1019-23
This masterclass explores how we see/interpret concepts of home. Confinement during lockdown created works that have taken on new meanings, feelings, and dimensions about place. Using a series of documentary films, artworks, and readings, we consider Home’s construction/deconstruction. How do we reimagine Home and what is it now? This workshop encourages students to consider archival photographs, text, and other works that focus on cultural, political, social, economic, and intimate moments. Students contemplate new questions, and consider moments both comforting and disconcerting. Participants challenge themselves to refine unfinished projects. Dedication, respect for peers, and love for work is expected. Portfolios will be accepted on a rolling basis. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio are as follows: Submit digital images of your work in one single PDF (as opposed to individual JPG attachments) via email directly to Anderson Ranch Workshop Manager Esther Nooner at enooner@andersonranch.org The single PDF must be less than 10 MB to be considered. Include 5-10 images of your work with image identification that lists the title, media, dimensions and year of each image. While not required, it is helpful to see an artist statement addressing the images you send. Include “Advanced Portfolio Review” in the subject line of your email, as well as the title of the workshop for which you are applying. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached and a link to your website. Submissions that do not follow the requested directions will not be reviewed. If you are accepted, a deposit of $650 will be required within one week of notification of acceptance to hold your place. Housing will be assigned on a space-available basis upon enrollment.

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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.
Aug 7 - 11, 2023
9AM-5PM
Master Class: Surface Treatment: Color and Glaze
Liz Larner
Tuition $1,500
Code C1012-23
Experienced ceramic artists are invited to explore the interplay between object, surface and glaze as a creative way to form a relationship between process, intent and effect. Emphasis is on an overview of glazing and its history, as well as the boundaries that have been pushed with the medium. We delve into surface manipulation and treatment with wet tiles, considering mark making and texture possibilities, and work with bisque tiles to allow for glaze experimentation and tests. Students discover different implements for applying and layering glaze, along with dipping, painting, spray booth, and basic glaze transfer techniques. We discuss a code system for labeling to create a physical library of glazes as we share in the discovery of endless combinations. Portfolios will be accepted on a rolling basis. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio are as follows: Submit digital images of your work in one single PDF (as opposed to individual JPG attachments) via email directly to Ceramics Studio Coordinator Joanne Seongweon Lee at jlee@andersonranch.org The single PDF must be less than 10 MB to be considered. Include 5-10 images of your work with image identification that lists the title, media, dimensions and year of each image. While not required, it is helpful to see an artist statement addressing the images you send. Include “Advanced Portfolio Review” in the subject line of your email, as well as the title of the workshop for which you are applying. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached and a link to your website. Submissions that do not follow the requested directions will not be reviewed. If you are accepted, a deposit of $650 will be required within one week of notification of acceptance to hold your place. Housing will be assigned on a space-available basis upon enrollment.
2023 Master Class Faculty

Linda Geary
Linda Geary is Professor/Chair of Painting at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Her book, Studio Visit, is a compilation of 100 studio visit conversations with a focus on collage and color, including an essay by poet Norma Cole. Linda lives and works in Oakland.

Kris Graves
Kris Graves is an artist and publisher based in New York and California. He creates artwork that deals with societal problems and uses art as a means to inform people about cultural issues. Using a mix of conceptual and documentary practices, he photographs the subtleties of societal power and its impact on the built environment, exploring how capitalism and power have shaped countries—and how that can be seen and experienced in everyday life.

Brent Howard
Brent Howard is a sculptor based out of the Woodlands, Texas. His recent work examines the alchemic notion of environment and materiality, along with their storied past and present state, to transmute the past, within the auratic present. Howard’s most recent work explores the essence of individual materiality and poiesis through alabaster, marble, metal, and fiberglass. He was core faculty in the Sculpture department at the Yale School of Art and taught at Skowhegan Artist Residency as well as longtime assistant to Louise Bourgeois.

Whitney Johnson
Whitney Johnson is the director of visuals and immersive experiences at National Geographic. Prior to joining the magazine, she was the Director of Photography at The New Yorker, where her work was widely recognized, earning awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors, Awards of Excellence from the Society of Publication Designers, and a Peabody.

Liz Larner
Liz Larner attended the California Institute of the Arts, where she received her BFA. An inventor of new forms, she explores and extends the conditions and possibilities of sculpture in her work, which has been presented in numerous solo museum exhibitions. Liz was recently the subject of two major exhibitions, Don’t put it back like it was, at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and Sculpture Center, Long Island City, and below above, at Kunsthalle Zürich.

Meleko Mokgosi
Meleko Mokgosi was born in Francistown, Botswana, and lives and works in Wellesley, MA, and is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Yale School of Art, and Director of the Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program. He received his MFA from the University of California Los Angeles. He participated in the Rauschenberg Residency at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Captiva, FL and the Artist in Residence Program at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY.

Judy Pfaff
Judy Pfaff creates work that spans disciplines and eschews definition, and is often cited as a pioneer of installation-art. She has received many awards including the International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), the MacArthur Foundation Award (2004), and the Guggenheim Fellowship (1983). Judy lives and works in Tivoli, New York.

Brian Shure
Master Printer and Director, Anderson Ranch Editions
Brian Shure apprenticed to Tamarind Master Printer Ernest DeSoto while a student at Antioch College, and became a Master Printer at Editions Press, and then at Crown Point Press, where he also coordinated the China Woodblock Program. He has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University, and Cornell University and conducted workshops in numerous studios in the U.S., China, Japan, Mexico, and Germany. Prior to becoming Director of Anderson Ranch Editions, he was production manager at Gemini GEL in Los Angeles. He is represented by Planthouse Gallery in New York, and his work is in many public and private collections worldwide. He lives at Anderson Ranch with his wife and two children.

Dr. Deborah Willis
Deborah Willis is a professor and Chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at New York University and director of NYU’s Center for Black Visual Culture. She teaches courses on photography and imaging, iconicity, and cultural histories visualizing the black body, women, and gender. Her research examines photography’s multifaceted histories, visual culture, photographic history of slavery and emancipation, contemporary women photographers, and beauty.