Unwrap a Hershey Kiss
Acrylic Painting Workshop with AJ Fries
Oct 12, 2025 1:00pm — 3:30pm
Artist/Instructor: A.J. Fries
Sunday, October 12
1:00 PM–3:30 PM
Fee: Members $50 | Not-yet members $65.00
Supplies are provided
Register Here
Indulge your artistic side in this sweet and satisfying acrylic painting workshop. Perfect for both beginners and those with painting experience, this guided session will take you step-by-step through creating a realistic depiction of a classic Hershey’s Kiss. You'll explore techniques in shading, highlighting, and capturing metallic effects to make your chocolate subject shine on canvas. Led by artist A.J. Fries, the workshop includes a tour of his current exhibition, The Icing on the Cake, where everyday objects are transformed into visual statements of desire. All materials are provided, just bring your love of art and maybe a sweet tooth.
A.J. Fries
A.J. Fries is a painter who was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. A graduate of the Buffalo State University Fine Arts program, he has been called “unquestionably one of WNY’s most serious, developed, and dedicated artists” by Scott Propeack, Director of the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Fries exhibited in Art Basel Miami, NYC, Boston, New Orleans, Binghamton, and locally in Buffalo at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo Arts Studio, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, and Big Orbit Gallery, among others. His work is included in many public and private collections, including those of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum and the Burchfield Penney Art Center. In 2001, he was awarded a 3-month residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York, and in 2007, he received a full fellowship for a month-long residency at the Vermont Studio Center. He is a founding member of Trans Empire Canal Corporation (TECC), a Buffalo-based collective responsible for the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s 2014 multi-year project “Cultural Commodities: As Exhibition in Four Phases,” informally referred to as the “art barge.” Fries was designated one of the Burchfield Penney’s first “Living Legacy” artists in 2012.