Masterclass Series

Date: Sunday, September 27, 2026
Time: 9:30 – 4:30 PM
Location:  FVAC Annex 8C at 8 Canal Court, Unit C, Avon, CT 06001, across from FVAC campus
Level: All levels

Materials: $10
Registration fee: $180

Members save 10% on tuition

The Art of Insect Illustration in Colored Pencil with Kim Burris

Join certified natural sciences illustrator and our Studio artist, Kim Burris, for an engaging masterclass in colored pencil insect illustration, where participants will explore the intricate beauty of beetles, bees, moths, and other fascinating insects through enlarged, highly detailed renderings. This workshop introduces essential colored pencil techniques, including mark-making, blending, layering, and burnishing, while developing an understanding of color relationships and tonal harmony. Using provided reference materials focused on Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera, participants will create and take home a beautifully detailed illustration celebrating one of nature’s most captivating creatures.

About the Artist

Kim Burris is a professional artist whose career began in graphic design and illustration at the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education, where she later served as Executive Director. In 2000, she founded Surface Works, focusing on decorative and mural painting for museums, corporate spaces, residences, and hospital NICU family rooms across the country. In 2023, she completed the Certificate Program in Natural Science Illustration at the Yale Peabody Museum. Working primarily in colored pencil, watercolor, and oil, Burris draws inspiration from the natural world, with a particular fascination for botanical and wildlife subjects and the extraordinary diversity of insects.

Date: Sunday, November 1, 2026
Time: 9:30 – 4:30 PM
Location:  FVAC Annex 8C at 8 Canal Court, Unit C, Avon, CT 06001, across from FVAC campus
Level: All levels

Materials: $30, includes: paper, vase, wire stems, dyes
Registration fee: $180

Members save 10% on tuition

Paper Botanicals: Poppies, Lavender & Ferns
with Jo Lynn Alcorn

Discover the art of transforming paper into lifelike botanical forms in this immersive masterclass with internationally renowned paper artist Jo Lynn Alcorn.

Guided by Jo Lynn’s signature paper engineering techniques, you’ll learn how to create an elegant arrangement of oriental poppies, French lavender, and ferns using a variety of specialty papers, shaping methods, and construction techniques.

Explore how color, scale, and hand-dyeing can dramatically change the character of each botanical element, allowing you to create a composition that is uniquely your own. Along the way, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of form, structure, and craftsmanship while developing techniques that can be applied to future paper botanical projects.

By the end of the workshop, you’ll leave with a vase filled with your own handcrafted paper flowers and foliage, along with the confidence and skills to continue expanding your bouquet and creating new botanical arrangements at home.

About the Artist

Jo Lynn Alcorn is a West Hartford–based paper artist, designer, and illustrator whose intricate paper sculptures transform simple sheets into expressive botanical forms. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she creates layered bas-reliefs, three-dimensional paper constructions, and immersive installations inspired by nature. Her work has been commissioned by renowned brands including Dior, Giorgio Armani, Clinique, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Anthropologie, Elizabeth Arden, and Shanghai Tang.