Fearless Abstract Painting

fearless abstract painting

Tuesday, August 18th | 6PM | Our Lady of the Snows | $15 | Sign-up Required

In this class, students will learn how to create fearless, intuitive abstract paintings using Samantha da Silva’s signature “no rules” roller-painting method, incorporating plaster, salt, sand, sawdust, and playful canvas manipulation techniques. This class is especially good for people who want to learn how to silence their inner critic, overcome fear of the blank canvas, trust their intuition, and discover their own authentic artistic voice in a joyful, judgment-free space. You will use rollers (instead of brushes), large quantities of acrylic paint and water, plaster, salt, sand, sawdust, and your hands directly on the canvas laid flat on a table. At the end of the class, you will leave with one completed, textured abstract painting, a toolbox of fearless techniques you can use forever, and the confidence to keep creating without rules or self-doubt.

Samantha da Silva (b. 1978, Brazil) is a Brazilian-born, Salt Lake City-based artist and dedicated educator who has taught visual arts for over twenty years in public and private schools and institutions across Canada, the United States, Hawaii, and France. Shaped by nearly forty moves triggered by natural disasters and life circumstances, and by the intense assimilation she experienced at age ten, da Silva channels themes of migration, belonging, and resourcefulness into her widely recognized large-scale relief sculptures—topographic-like works built from found dirt, sawdust, and debris—that have appeared in Architectural Digest, Bravo TV, and HGTV. In the classroom, she guides students of all ages to transform personal experience and everyday materials into powerful expression, making art a vital tool for connection and resilience in an ever-shifting world.

ACE aims to create an inclusive and accessible environment for all of our attendees; please contact our Executive Director, Sara Gibbs, with any questions regarding accessibility.