The Artist Series—Following Color: Creative Explorations Inspired by Helen Frankenthaler taught by Tara Tieso (Multi-Session)
October 30 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Multi-Session Class
Via Zoom on 4 Fridays, October 30-Novemeber 20 from 10am-12pm Central TimeVIRTUAL CLASS
Helen Frankenthaler changed the course of American painting by doing something remarkably simple—she poured thinned paint onto raw canvas and allowed color, gravity, water, and intuition to become her creative partners.
Rather than teaching us how to paint like Helen Frankenthaler, this class explores the kinds of creative questions she seemed to ask throughout her remarkable career.
- What happens when I stop trying to control everything?
- What if color is enough?
- Can I respond instead of plan?
- How much do I need to know before I begin?
- What is the difference between an accident and a discovery?
- How do I know when enough is enough?
Over four weeks, we’ll explore these questions through playful sketchbook experiments, conversation, observation, and reflection. Working with accessible materials, we’ll discover how color, water, chance, and curiosity can become creative partners—and perhaps begin to notice our own visual language quietly emerging.
Rather than trying to copy her paintings, we’ll use them as invitations to become a little less certain, a little more curious, and a lot more playful.
No painting experience is necessary—only curiosity.
Suggested Supply List (the full list is not required—choose media and materials you most enjoy using):
•Non-spiral bound, lay flat, mixed media sketchbook
•A small selection of vibrant watercolors – Tara likes Vivia Watercolor Color Sheets or water-soluble pencils
•A small selection of gouache paints
• Brushes of your choice
• Waterproof black ink or fine-tip marker
• Collage scraps
• Adhesive of your choice
Classes have a limited space available and some fill quickly. Decisions about whether to cancel a class or add another session are typically made one week prior to the start of a class. If a class you are interested in is full we will have a waiting list and will contact you if a space opens up. If a class is cancelled due to low enrollment (fewer than 4 registrations) all registrations will be promptly refunded.
Ticket Instruction: You must choose a quantity to activate “get tickets”. To pay for a class registration with a Wet Paint gift card, please call 651-698-6431
Tara L. Tieso is an abstract artist residing in the historic Lowertown arts district of Saint Paul along the mighty Mississippi. She works in encaustic, an ancient beeswax and resin medium fused to its substrate with a torch, as well as pen and ink – and loves every kind of water-soluble media! Tara is Past Board President of nationally celebrated WARM, Women’s Art Resources Minnesota – where she worked with other women in the arts to steward the rich 40-year feminist legacy of Minnesota’s brilliant women artists. She currently serves as Board Chair of The Show Non-Profit, which supports artists with disabilities. Tara brings a love of community from her experience in social work and therapy, and as a teaching artist, she facilitates Wet Paint’s Book Club (free on zoom!), Creative Circles from her loft studio, and a myriad of Wet Paint classes that require no art experience of any kind, ever! A grateful recipient of the McKnight Foundation-funded Metropolitan Regional Arts Council’s Next Step Grant, and a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant; she is one of 30 ArtSage Minnesota Artists, and a winner of North Hennepin Community College Award of Excellence in Memory of Lance Kiland from the Minnesota State Fair Foundation. Her work hangs in private collections in the Twin Cities, greater Minnesota, and Philadelphia.
