Anderson Ranch Arts Center

Anderson Ranch Arts Center is a non-profit arts organization founded in 1966 and located in Snowmass Village, Colorado. The center hosts an artist residency program and summer workshops in the months of June, July, August, September and a January workshop intensive.

About
The campus is five acres in size with working studio space in historic buildings for ceramics, painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, sculpture, furniture making and woodworking as well as a digital fabrication lab, library, café, gallery and a lecture hall. The Ranch invites visiting artists, critics and curators year-round.

Anderson Ranch hosts many public events throughout the year, such as the Summer Series: Featured Artists & Conversations, Lunchtime Auctionettes, Guest Faculty Lectures, the Annual Art Auction and Recognition Dinner, as well as indoor and outdoor exhibitions. The nearby Aspen Art Museum and Aspen Institute with Anderson Ranch forms a trio of significant arts institutions in the Roaring Fork Valley.

History
Located in the Rocky Mountains, just 8 miles west of Aspen, Colorado, the art center was formerly a working ranch settled by Swedish immigrants in the late 19th century. Hildur Hoaglund Anderson, born in 1907 in Aspen, was the youngest child of the family that built and lived in the current campus buildings. Anderson Ranch became an artists’ community in 1966 when it was founded by ceramic artist Paul Soldner. Other early artists involved were Dennis Hopper, Sally Mann, Daniel Rhodes, Jim Romberg, Toshiko Takaezu, James Surls, and Charmaine Locke. The center became a non-profit in 1973 and started offering an artist residency program in 1985.

The ceramics program has a long artistic connection with the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and the furniture and woodworking program has a similar creative history with San Diego State University. Past summer faculty have included Mickalene Thomas, Catherine Opie, Judy Pfaff, among many others.

Since 1978, Anderson Ranch Editions has published limited edition prints in etching, lithography, woodcut, and silkscreen with visiting artists including Steve Locke, Tom Sachs, Nina Katchadourian, and Laurie Anderson. One of the lithographs Anderson created with Bud Shark at Anderson Ranch became the cover art for her second studio album Mister Heartbreak released in 1984.

Since 2019, the art center has hosted a curator-in-residence. The inaugural curator was Helen Molesworth from 2019–2021. Douglas Fogle was curator-in-residence from 2022–2023. The sculpture gardens on campus display works by Isamu Noguchi and Sanford Biggers.

International Artist Award
Since 1997, the International Artist Award is given to globally-recognized artists who demonstrate the highest level of artistic achievement and whose careers have fundamentally influenced contemporary art. Past honorees include: