Bold Strokes: An Introduction to Gestural Mark Making

Live from the Netherlands

Life is short, make bold moves. On Saturday July 17th at 11AM EDT, we will explore the world of gestural mark making with VAWAA artist Tessa and discover how an artist's individuality can be expressed in the marks they make. 

Tessa will lead a dynamic demonstration of various brushes, tools and techniques inviting us to follow along as we get a taste of what it feels like to express ourselves through bold, intuitive strokes. We'll learn about different styles of mark making - structured or gestural - descriptive, expressive, conceptual, and symbolic and discuss distinct mark making styles of famous artists. After gaining new insight into a world of possibilities for gestural mark making, we may be inspired to build on this foundation for future large scale collages.

If you are not in EDT time zone, be sure to convert the time.

What you'll need

• Chinese ink 
• Large sheets of paper
• Small and large brushes 
• Broomstick brush (without the stick)

How to join

We'll be hosting this VAWAA Online on Zoom. We'll send the link and details to join via email 1 day and again 1 hour before it begins.

About Tessa

Tessa is an abstract painter who works in mixed media and collage. She focuses heavily on composition, materiality, and pattern. Her creative process emphasizes trial and error, and she enjoys experimenting with texture, using everything from inks to wallpapers in her art. Tessa’s finished works are as much about her process as they are products of that process. Expressive and abstract, Tessa’s collages and paintings reflect her fascination with creative expression and artistic intuition, but more importantly, they reflect her unique humanity and her truly special brand of kindness and energy. A mother, a teacher, and an optimist, she lives by the mantra: “There is art in every heart!”

Visit her artist page to learn more about her in-person VAWAA

Reviews

"Tessa is a wonderful artist, thoughtful host and a great teacher."- Prashant

"Learning from Tessa was such a wonderful experience! She had valuable insight, is very talented and had a lovely demeanor. I truly enjoyed my time with her this morning!" - Jane

"Really nice look into Tessa's process doing collage. I have no art or design background and was able to enjoy this class with many artists of varying backgrounds. We each worked on a collage and shared our work, and I really learned from what others did as well as what Tessa demonstrated. I enjoyed the class very much." - Denise

"Nice presentation. I like projects that will get me out of my head and collaging will do just that.  Many ideas were generated while watching you create. Thank-you VAWAA and Tessa!" - Lisa

Sessions are ticketed to support artists, makers and our small team. If you’re experiencing financial hardship, please reach out. We may have a generous participant who has paid it forward. We would ask that you pay the love forward by sharing online sessions with friends.