Anderson Ranch Arts Center will honor Nick Cave with its International Artist Award, the Snowmas Village nonprofit announced Thursday.
Sarah Arison will be given the Ranch’s 2019 Service to the Arts Award and Doug Casebeer with the Extraordinary Leadership Award at its 23rd Annual Recognition Dinner on July 18.
“This year’s honorees represent everything that is core to the mission of Anderson Ranch. As individuals being celebrated for their contributions to contemporary arts,” Anderson Ranch President and CEO Peter Waanders said in the announcement. “Nick, Sarah and Doug reflect the impact that art can have on society at large. They are world-class leaders who have changed the landscape of the art world, and people’s lives within that world. In addition, their talents and values are true to the roots of the Ranch; it’s sure to be an unforgettable evening,”
Cave is an artist and working between the visual and performing arts through a wide range of mediums including sculpture, installation, video, sound and performance. Cave is best known for his Soundsuits, which camouflage the body, masking and creating a second skin that conceals race, gender and class, forcing the viewer to look without judgment.
“I am grateful to receive this prestigious award from Anderson Ranch Arts Center,” Cave said. “My practice is about creating opportunities for collective dreaming, and having visited the Ranch campus and experiencing the creative energy which permeates every space, Anderson Ranch is exactly that kind of place in the physical world. This is an honor and I’m looking forward to returning this summer.”
Arison is president of the Arison Arts Foundation, a private grant-making organization that supports emerging artists and the institutions that foster them. She was immersed in the arts from a young age by her grandparents, visionary philanthropists Ted and Lin Arison, who founded Arison Arts Foundation, the National YoungArts Foundation and the New World Symphony, among their many philanthropic endeavors.
“What immediately drew me to the Ranch was hearing how artists spoke about it — they often referred to it as their home, a place they felt comfortable experimenting, creating and collaborating,” Arison said. “To hear artists speak so enthusiastically made me instantly understand what a unique and special place it was; the more time I spend there the more I agree. It is such a warm and welcoming community to artists and art lovers alike. I am thrilled to receive this award from such an exceptional organization.”
Casebeer has been at Anderson Ranch Arts Center since 1985. He has exhibited his pottery and ceramics exhibited extensively nationally and internationally and is in numerous public and private collections. He will begin a full-time studio practice following his work at the Ranch this summer. He also has joined the University of Oklahoma as an artist-in-residence.
“I am humbled and honored to receive this award of recognition from the Ranch,” he said. “The Ranch has been my life’s work. I am reminded of what a mentor of mine said to me many years ago, that ‘as a teacher, the best gift you can receive is to make a difference in someone’s life’. The Ranch has allowed me to touch, change and encourage the creative practice of hundreds of striving artists. I am thankful of this gift the Ranch has given me and I am paying it forward one person at a time.”
For Recognition Dinner information on tables and tickets, please call Hailey Walsh at 970-924-5067. Proceeds from the evening directly benefit Anderson Ranch educational programs.