Meet Our Fall 2026 Instructors

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Anne Harkness is a North Carolina native and contemporary artist with a BFA in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute, College of Art and studies at the Atlanta College of Art. After 15 years as an art director in New York City, her paintings reflect a strong graphic sensibility and thoughtful design.

Anne finds unexpected beauty in ordinary places, creating work that captures memory, time, and a sense of place. Her focus on line, movement, and layered marks comes from a love of drawing and an appreciation for loose, expressive surfaces. She hopes her paintings bring a fresh, engaging presence that enhances the atmosphere of everyday life.

www.anneharkness.com & @annephark

Janet Visser, a prize-winning American Painter and instructor, simplifies any subject matter by reducing it to a fundamental and poetic

form of line and color.

There are no blatant messages in her art, but rather, a journey of visual excitement. She creates using acrylics and mixed media in a rhythmic

series of freedom and thought. Her finished abstract compositions are composed of up to ten layers of paint. 

JanetVisser.com

Marisa J. Pascucci is an experienced art curator, historian, speaker, and administrator with a progressive career in leading art institutions. She is currently Gallery and Collection Coordinator at the Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College and an independent curator in the Charlotte area, where she writes and lectures regularly.

Previously, she served as Curator of Collections at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Associate Editor of The Art Economist, and adjunct faculty and career advisor at Palm Beach State College. Her museum experience also includes curatorial roles at the Norton Museum of Art, Everson Museum of Art, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, MOCA Cleveland, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. She has contributed to museum publications, co-written successful grants, and is a member of several professional arts organizations.

Marisa holds a BA in art history from American University and dual MA degrees in art history and museum studies from Case Western Reserve University in partnership with the Cleveland Museum of Art.

marisapascucci.art & @marisajpascucci

Laurie Basham is an award-winning pastel artist known for capturing color and light in landscapes, figures, and still lifes. Inspired by plein-air painting, travel, and her own photography, she also works in her studio painting scenes of family and nature.

A native of Rockville, Maryland, Laurie earned a degree in Art Education from the University of Maryland and retired in 2019 after an award-winning teaching career. Now a full-time artist, she has received numerous awards in plein-air competitions and local, national, and international exhibitions.

Laurie is active in the North Carolina art community, teaching pastel workshops and private lessons. She is a signature member of the Piedmont, Maryland, and Degas Pastel Societies, an associate member of the Pastel Society of America, and a past president of the Piedmont Pastel Society.

lauriebashamfineart.com & @lolliartworks

Kortney Gibson has lived in the Lake Norman area all her life. Now residing in Mooresville with her husband, daughter, and four dogs, she's excited to open more opportunities in the world for anyone who wants to paint. 

Kortney's primary focus is on painting animal portraits in oil mediums. She is passionate about bringing out the animal's personality in each painting. She wants to continue to help people of all ages find their inspiration to start making art.

Tina Gwata Vincent is an award-winning artist from Zimbabwe who has had her work exhibited throughout North Carolina and beyond. Her work can be found in the homes of collectors all over the country. Her journey as an artist began in her childhood, when she was inspired by the natural beauty surrounding her. Living in the Dominican Republic as a girl she loved the bright colored architecture and traditional crafts that sparked her interest in art. The stories told through visual language have always fascinated her, and she strived to carry that tradition forward in her work.

Tina’s home studio is filled with an array of materials like fabric, decorative paper, paints, and each waiting to be transformed into something extraordinary. On a given day you may catch her experimenting with cyanotypes on fabric and creating intricate textured wall hangings or collages. Tina's mixed media works are not only a feast for the eyes but also provoke thought and conversation. She believes that art should be accessible and relatable, and she often incorporates elements that resonate with her audience’s cultural backgrounds.

tinagvincent.com & @tinagvincent

 Beverly Walker learned basic weaving at University of Kentucky in 1994. Feeling drawn towards pictorial weaving to incorporate her years of oil and watercolor painting, she then studied advanced tapestry techniques in England at West Dean College where she also learned advanced silk painting. Her tapestries can be found in a Paramount Pictures movie, in a “Best of Ohio 2013” traveling exhibit, and in the Queens Room of the ship Africa Mercy, as well as many private and corporate collections.

Walker has a passion for teaching others the many techniques of colorful tapestry weaving, and has taught many tapestry workshops in several states. She is excited to introduce tapestry classes of several levels in the Mooresville area to which she has now relocated. She exclaims, “Tapestry is very fun, easy to learn, affordable, and therapeutic like petting a kitten!”

She is a member of the American Tapestry Alliance and Tapestry Weavers South.