Aspen is located in the mountains of Colorado, USA, and is famous for its ski resorts. The mountainous town looks out to a splendid view and possesses a friendly atmosphere to the development of arts and culture. Anderson Ranch Arts Center resides in Snowmass Village, a small valley town southeastern to Aspen. It used to be a ranch but had been transformed by the owner into an arts center with a registration center, meeting center, cafeteria, housing area, as well as professional studios in the fields of woodworking, welding, ceramics, printmaking, photography, painting, computer graphics, and etc.

I participated in two workshops, Complex Forms: using geometry, lamination, and coopering, in the woodworking studio, and Idea Development for Steel Sculpture, in the welding studio. Both workshops were instructed at an advanced level, and strict requirements were placed on the participants technically and conceptually for the developing works.

Workshops at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center attracted participants from different professions and of different ages. Among my studiomates, there were engineers, architects, toy designers, artists, and collectors to name a few. It was such a wonderful combination of people and talents.

On the whole, my experience at Anderson Ranch Arts Center had inspired me conceptually and technically as an artist. More importantly, was the friendships I established with other people. The workshop instructors and assistants were all exceptional artists who had been showcasing artworks around the United States, and were teaching in prestigious art institutes.

I was able to make connections with many people in the field of the arts and developed opportunities for future exchanges and exhibitions. Moreover, the studiomates from different professional backgrounds had allowed me to extend myself within the reach of the applied arts.