![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Heather-Tarolli-throwing-paint-SMALLER-SIZE.jpg\")
<\/a>With her rage painting classes, art student Heather Tarolli, a U.S. Army veteran, provided people with a safe place to throw something to release their frustrations during the pandemic while also expressing themselves as artists.<\/p><\/div>\n
In August she created this safe way for fellow military veterans and the general public to release suppressed frustrations during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cRage painting is part of our community outreach,\u201d Tarolli said. \u201cH.O.O.V.E.S. lost a ton of funding when the pandemic hit, so all the money we make from rage painting goes towards putting veterans through a retreat weekend featuring all of the different courses with horses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rage painting is much more than throwing paint at a canvas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a cathartic release of energy and feelings and emotions in a physical way,\u201d said Tarolli, who finds art a helpful way to work through her own PTSD.<\/p>\n
Tarolli enlisted in the Army in 2008, was stationed for most of the time as an air traffic controller with the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley in Kansas and served a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2013. Three years ago she was medically retired after a back injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has anger,\u201d said Tarolli, a mother of two girls, ages 4 and 8. \u201cEveryone\u2019s frustrated over something or another, whether it\u2019s wearing masks; my kids have to stay home from school and now we\u2019re doing remote learning; not being able to go see your friends and family or go out and do the things you used to. And coincidentally, wearing paint suits, face shields and gloves to protect yourself from the paint makes it really easy to transition for pandemic usage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea is that if you\u2019re going to throw something to release stress or anger, do it in a constructive way and in a safe environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat leads to you talking about your anger and figuring out why you\u2019re that angry, but you get that instant release of throwing the paint, getting it out,\u201d Tarolli said. \u201cAnd then when you\u2019re done with it, you have this wonderful painting at the end that can serve as a reminder of how you worked through your emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Air Force veteran Amanda Held, a certified trauma instructor and founder of H.O.O.V.E.S., works with Tarolli as a co-instructor of the rage painting classes, calling them unconventional but effective therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAround the farm we say, \u2018You’ve got to feel it to heal it,\u2019\u201d Held said. \u201cRage painting\u00a0is a perfect example of that. It’s a positive way to bring up feelings\u00a0of stress and frustration and let them out constructively, while\u00a0balancing the heavy emotions with expressions of fun and humor. It’s a\u00a0somatic experience that leaves participants feeling relieved and\u00a0lighter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tarolli is a sculpture major at UToledo in the College of Arts and Letters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI work with my hands,\u201d Tarolli said. \u201cClay, metal, wood, anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
She spends four days a week taking classes at the Center for Sculptural Studies located next to UToledo\u2019s Center for the Visual Arts, a building designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and attached to the Toledo Museum of Art.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love being an art student at UToledo,\u201d Tarolli said. \u201cThe Toledo Museum of Art is a privately funded art museum, and we\u2019re one of the only universities that has a university attached to a privately owned museum. We have that instant availability of, \u2018Well, I want to go see a David Smith sculpture,\u2019 and we can just walk down the street and go see one. The availability is right there to see the art, interact with the art.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tarolli\u2019s goal is to graduate with a bachelor\u2019s of fine arts and open her own studio in Toledo.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing into the arts is something a lot of veterans are drawn to \u2014 especially if they\u2019re artistic \u2014 because it helps with PTSD, depression and anxiety,\u201d Tarolli said. \u201cIt\u2019s expression. You get to express how you\u2019re feeling through whatever you\u2019re making.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m working through my stuff. We talk about emotions. We talk about feelings. And it\u2019s not something to be scared about.\u201d<\/p>\n