Anderson Ranch Arts Center Workshop Catalogs 2000-2009 | Page 8

critical studies
THE CRITICAL STUDIES

program offerings have
grown to match the rich and diverse programmatic
breadth of the Ranch’s studio programs. We feature
classes focused on photography, contemporary painting
and sculpture, ceramics, craft, architecture and contemporary culture, as well as art historical overviews.
Our new seminar classes this year feature limited enrollment to bring lively discussion and depth of detail and investigation that have always been our strength.
Our Critical Studies classes are taught by internationallyrenowned experts in their fields–an impressive lineup of
new faces and voices to share their passion and knowledge. There is no better place to study the history, theory, and profiles of these individuals than at the Ranch.

CRITICAL STUDIES SKILL LEVEL: (applies to all
listed Critical Studies workshops and seminars)
Open to All – Students of any skill/knowledge level. All

ceramics, landscapes and gardens, interiors, furniture, and
sets for dance and theater. All of this has a place within
what Noguchi called “the sculpture of spaces.” Noguchi
saw sculpture as concerned with the creation of the spaces
within which people live; places where we experience the
world and interact with others, rather than viewing sculpture
as the creation of individual objects of aesthetic pleasure.
Studying Noguchi’s work from this perspective—examining a
life that bridged Asia and the West and that engaged figures
such as Constantin Brancusi, Buckminster Fuller and Martha
Graham—students will encounter one of the most fascinating artists of the 20th century.
ACTIVITIES: Four afternoon presentations, 2:00 - 4:30 pm. This
seminar will be limited to 8 people and will take place in our
library. Some reading will be required.
FACULTY:  Bruce Altshuler is the director of the program in
museum studies at New York University and, from 1992-1998,
was the director of the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum. He
is the author of Isamu Noguchi and The Avant-Garde in Exhibition: New Art in the 20th Century. He has lectured internationally on modern and contemporary art; the history of
exhibitions; museum history and practice.

Critical Studies courses are CORE .
class

June 29 - July 2

June 22 - 26

ACTIVITIES: Four afternoon presentations, 2:00 - 4:30 pm.
FACULTY: Libby Lumpkin is an art historian, curator, and former
critic who currently serves as the director of the Las Vegas
Art Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada. She previously served as
a visiting professor of art theory at Harvard, Yale and other
universities. She has published and lectured extensively on
art and design.

July 13 - 16

Darger, Ramirez & the Popularity of
the Intuitive 
Brooke Davis Anderson   
Tuition: $495  Code: A0705

Nostalgia as Form & Content in
Contemporary Art 

for artists

the relationship of Vegas’s unique designs to target markets.
Particular focus is placed on the transition from the “modern
swank” buildings and signage of the Rat Pack era to the scenographic or image-based designs of the 1990s. This transition is presented in the context of parallel transitions taking
place in fine art and high architecture of the same period. The
final portion of the class addresses the implications of Las
Vegas’s impending visual gentrification.

Tuition: $495  Code: A0503

Writing Materials: a writing seminar


Toby Kamps   

Mary Barringer   
Martin Ramirez, The Last Works, UNTITLED (Reina/Madonna) (detail)

Tuition Price: $695  Code: A0401  Enrollment Limit 8

CONCEPT: In this engaging seminar, the great Outsider Artists
Henry Darger and Martin Ramirez will be examined in detail.
Class discussion will include their biographies, their oeuvres,
and an overview of the fascinating discipline of Outsider Art.
ACTIVITIES: Four afternoon presentations, 2:00 - 4:30 pm.
Larry Pittman, Untitled (detail)

Mary Barringer, Wide Basin (detail)

CONCEPT: This seminar is for artists who want to enliven their
writing with some of the creativity, vividness and sense of
process they bring to their studio work. Students will read,
write and listen in order to expand their command of words,
hone in on their ideas, and develop an ear for their own and
other’s writerly “voices”. Students should bring an idea for a
writing project—an artist’s statement, a personal narrative,
an essay on issues in the field—as well as a curiosity about
language and a sense of play.
ACTIVITIES: Five full days, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, of writing, discussion and exercises. This seminar will be limited to 8 people and will take place in our library. The seminar will feature
discussion, writing, tutorial and group review.
FACULTY: Mary Barringer received a degree in art from Bennington College and has been a studio artist since 1973, making
both sculpture and functional pottery. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and she has taught widely at art centers and
universities including Haystack, Penland and Ohio University.
Since 2003, she has been editor of the journal Studio Potter.

CONCEPT:  Like nostalgics gripped by a longing for a distant
time, many contemporary artists seem compelled to explore
bygone periods and movements. Some are inspired by pivotal historical moments (Kara Walker, Sam Durant);