Handmade Pottery + Ceramic Jewelry

It’s Wednesday morning and while I’m really starting to feel settled,  class is almost half finished!  My students are working really hard and I think we’re going to have some fantastic movable sculptures to show their friend’s and family for our Friday show.

Anderson Ranch is truly a magical place.  It was originally a turn of the century cattle and sheep farm owned by the Anderson’s, and was repurposed as an arts center in 1966 when Snowmass was first being developed as a ski resort to complement sister town Aspen’s burgeoning popularity.  Paul Soldner, whose background is in ceramics, was the artist founder of the Ranch and recruited other local artists to join in shaping the former ranch into studios and the development of the many art workshops available today.

Just inside the entrance

Today, there are 18 buildings on the 4 acre campus which include a gallery, library, woodshop, ceramic studios, print/drawing studios, painting studio, visiting artist studio, meeting hall, photography studio, dorms, residences for permanent staff, cafe,and finally a children’s studio where I am teaching this week.

Children visiting the area for the summer take classes here as well as local children who live in the Roaring Fork Valley area of Colorado.  I overheard one local girl telling another student how she wished she lived somewhere else and I responded that I thought she was super lucky to live in such a beautiful area.  Though, I do suppose if you live here year round, you might not appreciate it as much as those of us who are just visiting.

Siegal Children’s Building

The children’s studio is the  first building to the left when entering the Ranch.  I found out that it’s the only non-insulated building on the complex, so it is only open during the summer and otherwise becomes storage for seasonal items during the winter months.

Inside children’s building

The children’s studio is an L shaped building and supports 1 morning & 1 afternoon class a week during the summer.  Kathleen Blake, an art teacher from Oklahoma who has received numerous educational awards, is teaching a “Self Portrait” class in the morning.  And, while I originally wanted to teach in the morning, I am thankfully teaching the afternoon class from 1:00 – 3:30.

I even have my own kiln!

Yesterday, my students finished sculpting and painting their clay parts for their sculptures and I loaded their work into the kiln after class to speed dry overnight.  Normally, my assistant (a sculpture student from University of Colorado Boulder – who is also the children’s education intern, Gwynnie (I’ll have to find her last name) would load the kiln.  I offered to do it, however, since she hasn’t had a day off in 2 weeks since the Ranch has been busy with a special art project when the Dalai Lama visited Aspen last week.  YES, the Dalai Lama!  It would have been fun to be here last week, though I’m sure there would have been some crazy crowds.

At any rate, I’m so pleased to be here and am enjoying the experience.  I haven’t been doing too much sightseeing, but I am very relaxed right now and am enjoying spending some quality time with my family.  I missed the slide lecture last night at the Ranch, but have been invited to attend a faculty and staff dinner tonight at a board member’s house in Aspen.  I haven’t decided whether or not to go since I didn’t really pack any nice clothing and only have flip flops, tevas and sneakers along.  Oh well, who cares, right?

Till later,

~Cynthia