Who We Are
We believe art is fun and rewarding!
At The Colorful Palette our projects are designed to challenge our students’ notions of what art can be and how it can look. At the same time, our classes are playful and fun!
We taught together for several years at the Bronx River Art Center, as well as senior centers around New York City; this enabled us to hone our approach and teaching philosophy.
Beginners and more experienced artists will benefit from our classes. Together we will learn about color, form, and space as well as the tools and media that we use to realize our ideas.
All of our artists will be encouraged to explore their imaginations as well as the world around them. Lessons will draw from the rich history that art has to offer.
At The Colorful Palette we will follow the amazing paths that the creative process can take us on, and explore new and fresh ways to make art.
Joel Adas
I have been a teaching artist my entire adult life. I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Rutgers University in 1992 and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in 1996 from SUNY Purchase. I set up an art school for children in my hometown Highland Park, New Jersey. I incorporated work by many of my favorite artists in my lesson plans. This practice has continued to this day and I believe it is a wonderful way for students to learn about art making and art history at the same time.
In my art practice, I work in both oil (often on a large scale), and gouache on paper on a smaller scale. I work almost entirely from my imagination, basing my imagery largely on my encounters with nature.
I have taught both on-site and remotely at various senior centers in New York City since 2000. Since moving to Cape May permanently, I have been teaching zoom art classes to various ages.
Helen Selsdon
I was born in London, England. I studied Fine Arts, Painting at Camberwell School of Art and graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Soon after this I visited New York City and moved permanently to the United States in 1989.
I work with oil, watercolor, gouache and ink. I paint from direct observation, both in my studio and ‘en plein air’ in locations including Cape May Point, the Pacific Northwest and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In the past few years my work has been exhibited and is in private collections.
In recent years I joined my husband, Joel, as an assistant art teacher. Prior to the pandemic I worked with him at a senior center in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and at an art center for youth and adults in the Bronx.