Faculty
Advisory
board
Executive Director: Colonel (Ret.) James Vosler
Master Instructor & Program Director: Kerry Vosler
Advisory Board
Lois Griffel
Allen Banks
Colonel (Retired) James Vosler, President & Executive Director
Colonel (Retired) James Vosler, co-founder and President of the Young Artists' Studio. He is an author, leader, and Professional Civil Engineer in both Virginia and Florida. He graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. He Holds a masters degree from the U.S. Army War College in Strategic Studies and a MBA from Long Island University.
Kerry Vosler, Master Instructor & Program Director
Kerry L. Vosler received her formal art training the old fashioned way studying directly with master instructors. Her most influential instructors were, Daniel Greene, Robert Liberace, Lois Griffel & Dan Thompson. Today Kerry is a seasoned plein air painter, portrait and figurative artist. She is equally skilled in the mediums of oil, pastel, charcoal and conte. In 2010 Kerry and her husband, James, founded the Vosler Young Artists’ Studio, A Classic Atelier for children under eighteen in Tampa, Florida. In 2012 she was appointed faculty to the Portrait Society of America’s Annual Portrait Academy, Miami, Florida. Since 2019 She has lead and coordinated over 50 national and international Ambassadors for the Portrait Society of America's Ambassador Program. Kerry Vosler's website
Elizabeth Jenness Burge, Instructor
Elizabeth was influenced first and foremost by the artists with in her family, primarily painter, Ruth Jewell, who was her first teacher. She was then taught by Artists John Stephens and Hannes Beckmann before spending four years at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts and also completing a commercial arts program.
Attending workshops she continued to inform her practice as well as having had the privilege of studying under Charles Miano at his "Southern Atelier" further refining her skills through his classical academic program. She teaches representational drawing and painting regularly out of her studio, the Southern Atelier and the Vosler Young Artists' Studio. More about Elizabeth http://elizabethj.faso.com/
Sydney Harris
Sydney is a classically trained painter working primarily in oils. She studied in a traditional atelier setting in New York City, where her training emphasized drawing and painting from life, careful observation, and a realist approach rooted in historical practice.
Her work centers on creating paintings that are sensitive and enduring, grounded in the practice of gleaning truth from nature. Still working most often from life, she is interested in presence, restraint, and the subtle character that emerges through sustained observation rather than overt stylization. Her paintings aim toward a sense of timelessness, prioritizing structure, light, and disciplined mark making over trend or spectacle.
Sydney's website: sydneyharrisfineart.com
Alumni Instructor: Yeats Ihrig graduated from Robinson High School in 2014. He has been the recipient of three scholarships from the the Portrait Society of America. He received a Honorable Mention for his self portrait at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, 2nd Annual Teen Portrait Competition, 2013. Yeats graduated from the Angle Academy of Art, Florence, Italy in 2017. He was a finalist in the Art Renewal Center's 14th Annual International Salon for his still life paintings of "Cose Vecchie" & Still Life with Pumpkin in 2019. Yeats is an alumni of the Vosler Young Artists' Studio and teaching assistant from 2010-2014. He teaches the VYAS Summer programs each year and contributes to program development.
