I am Sara Deeming, a recent graduate of the honours fine arts studio program. Following the completion of my degree in April, I had the opportunity to move out to Colorado for the summer and intern at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. The ranch is an arts community located in Snowmass Village, Colorado. During the summer months, the ranch offers week-long intensive workshops in painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography and woodworking.
The ranch hosts 24 interns during the summer from across the continent to help run their workshops and summer artist series. A large number of the interns work in the studios with the faculty members and students. However, a handful of us work behind the scenes in the administrative office. I worked under the Operations Manager assisting with the front desk, the ArtWorks Store, and housing. I learned a lot in my time at the ranch, particularly expanding upon my administrative and customer service skills. In addition, I had the privilege to meet a ton of wonderful artists – the most memorable for me being printmaker John Hitchcock, photo conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, and the famous Frank Stella.
The ranch is a unique community, where you are immersed in creativity and art, surrounded by like-minded individuals. The summer is an extremely busy time and as an intern you will work a lot of hours (I worked seven days a week). Despite the demanding schedule, this is an opportunity in which you have the ability to make great connections with practicing artists, expand upon your skills and maybe slip in some time to make your own work. You will work with 23 other recent graduates of arts programs and make some great friends!
Next year, Anderson Ranch will be celebrating its 50th anniversary, so it is sure to be an exciting year with lots of big names and special events. If you are interested in pursuing a career in fine arts following graduation, the ranch could be an excellent way to expand upon your skills and add to your CV/resume. I encourage you to read up on the ranch and the internship program. If an internship isn’t for you, the ranch also offers a number of tuition scholarships for their summer workshops, and two 10-week artist residencies during the winter months