Abstract Painting Workshop

July 26, 2025

Saturday, 10am-4pm

Instructor: Michael Faris

Age: 16+ 

This quick paced workshop is designed for students interested in abstract and non-objective painting. The students will examine and discuss the various types of Nonobjective paintings and the methods for creating them. The Elements and Principles of Design will be studied and used to explain techniques and composition. 

The historical works of Vassily Kandinsky, Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Adolph Gottlieb, Grace Hartigan, and Joan Mitchell will be presented on PowerPoint for formal criticism. Students will discuss action painting, color field painting, hard edge painting, and imagery filled painting. 

Demonstrations of underpainting and action painting techniques, and thumbnail sketches will help us practice planning color and composition for our finished piece, students will leave the class with thumbnails for future paintings, and a completed abstract painting. 

Traditional oil paints, water soluble oil paints, or acrylic paints will work for this class. 

See “Material List/Syllabus” for required supplies. Students are responsible for bringing their own lunch.

$75 Members | $100 Non-Members

If you must cancel, please email (info@stlouisartistsguild.org) or call STLAG. A refund will be given only if cancellation occurs seven days prior to the first day of class. No exceptions. Refunds will be processed minus a $25 withdrawal fee.

St. Louis Artists Guild is committed to providing educational experiences to as many people as possible. We are pleased to offer sliding-scale scholarships to make classes and workshops more accessible to our community, adults & children. If you are interested in scholarship information please contact Kathryn Nahorski, Membership and Development Director, at knahorski@stlouisartistsguild.org