Abstract Painting: Sonic Gesture

Abstraction, sound and gesture intersect in a four-week studio course exploring the expressive possibilities of oil and acrylic painting through the lens of music and movement.

Offered at Oolite Arts, Abstract Painting: Sonic Gesture examines key developments in Color Field painting and Abstract Expressionism, grounding studio practice in historical context while encouraging contemporary experimentation. Through lectures, discussions, hands-on projects and group critiques, participants investigate how rhythm, tone and sonic structure can inform color, gesture and composition, while also exploring ways representation can emerge in dialogue with abstraction.

Across four weekly sessions, students move from foundational studies connecting color and sound, to large-scale gestural painting, to works that blend abstract and representational elements. The course culminates in a final critique and the development of a cohesive body of work reflecting each participant’s conceptual and technical growth.

The class is led by José Delgado Zúñiga, an artist and educator with an MFA from Columbia University whose work has been exhibited nationally and is held in prominent museum and private collections. His teaching emphasizes critical inquiry, material exploration and the articulation of artistic intent.

By the end of the course, participants will have strengthened their painting techniques, deepened their understanding of abstraction’s historical and contemporary frameworks, and produced a focused series of works informed by musical ideas and visual expression. Registration is required, and students are responsible for bringing their own materials.