The Taos News from Taos, New Mexico • Page 27

TEMPO March 10,1992 C3 A The new studio at the ranch, with lots of light for studio art work The Branham Ranch: an inspiring setting ByJScott Free The Taos News A ocated east of San bal at an elevation of 8,000 feet, the Branham Ranch is an inspiring ting for those who wish to explore creative talents. In 1985 Nikki and Mark Donner moved to the Branham Ranch, owned by Nikki's mother, Eya Fechin Branham, with the intention of transforming the ranch into a retreat for art workshops, Mark Donner said. In 1961 Eya Fechin Branham, daughter of Russian painter Nicolai Fechin, purchased the 300-acre ranch, located just below the D.H. Lawrence ranch, for two reasons: the beauty of the land and to serve as a location for her psychodrama workshops, Nikki Donner said. Branham has been involved in psychotherapy for more than 30 years, and she had a geodesic dome built on the properly in 1973 to conduct psychodrama retreats (a forum for an individual to act put the parts of people who have had an impact on their lives), Nikki Donner said.

Because the ranch was already, working well for retreats, the Donners, living in California and yearning to return to Taos, conceived of the Idea of using the ranch for art workshops and proposed the idea to their mother, Nikki said. Branham was receptive, and the three agreed to make the ranch an tension of the Fechin Institute, Nikki Donner said, The Feehin Institute is a non-profit cultural organization originally estab- lished to promote Nicolai Fechin's approach to education and creation, but in the case of the Branham Ranch expands to include the educational approaches of other artists. Now the Fechin Institute sponsors a series of high qualify, stimulating fine art workshops every summer at the ranch. So the Donners returned and discovered that, for the purpose of formal workshops, the ranch was in a state of disrepair, Mark Donner said. But Mark Donner had been a serious woodworker since he was a teen-ager and, drawing on those skills, he began patching, repairing and building.

The old ranch house, the largest building on the property, was built in 1903 by Richard Field Oakeley and, though a sturdy structure at the time, had suffered the natural wear of 90 years, Donner said. Donner added a porch, a bathroom and converted most of the rooms to serve as bedrooms the house now has six bedrooms and three bathrooms. Beginnings were humble with only four oil-painting workshops the first summer, the classes were held in the geodesic dome. The dome was adequate, Donner said, but did not provide good lighting for studio art work. But in seven years the program has flourished, and this spring Donner just completed a new studio.

The studio, he said, should catapult the Branham Ranch to the elite of locations for art workshops. "As far as I know the Branham Ranch is the only place that holds art workshops in a rural setting and has a fully equipped studio built specifically for the purpose of workshops," he said. This year there are 17 scheduled workshops, with subjects that include oil, watercolor and acrylic painting, drawing, sculpture and writing. The writing workshops were added four years ago and have been warmly received. The Donners speculate about building a darkroom and adding photography workshops next year.

The success of the workshops can be attributed to the quality of the instructors and the idyllic location, Donner said. "People come for the whole experience of being out here away from the maddening crowd," he said. "Also many workshop participants have full time jobs so their time at the Branham Ranch is their only opportunity to explore their creative urges for the whole year." The ranch provides a setting with minimal distractions, he said, adding that he frequently saw people during seminars painting late into the night or early in the morning. To choose instructors, the Donners said they do not have a formula, but generally try to enlist people who have an established following. The emphases of the instructors also vary from studio model work to location landscapes, but all of the instructors are essentially realists, Nikki Donner said.

Attendance at seminars is limited to 20, and the classes tend to fill quickly. Prices are $265 for the five-day seminars and $295 for lodging and meals at the ranch. Registration is required at least 30 days in advance. For more information call 776-2622. Here is a schedule of this summer's sessions: April 27-May 1 Taos artist Ray Vinella will focus on location landscape painting.

May 4-8 Sculptor Lincoln Fox will compare the differences in approach between two- and three-dimensional art. May 11-15 Fritz White will conduct a sculpting class which will try and give students more creative control through increased understanding of anatomy and movement. May 18-22 oil painting class by California artist Ron Riddick will focus on the subtleties of light and capturing those effects on canvas. June 1-5 drawing and painting seminar by Ned Jacob will focus on the human figure. June 8-12 sculpture class focusing on animals by Wyoming artist Dan Ostermiller.

June 15-19 artist Ned Mueller will conduct classes on figure drawing and oil painting. Mueller will focus on basic drawing principles and strongly emphasize the relationship between drawing and painting. June 22-26 western artist Jim Norton will focus on painting from live scenes; he will have students paint studies of a live horse model. June 29-July 3 author and writing consultant Mareia Yudkin's seminar, reaching the waterfall: writing with your whole self. July 6-10 writing seminar by Melissa Pritchard emphasizing the importance of revision to honing the initial inspiration in fiction writing.

BRANHAM, C4.