Taught by featured RiverPlace gallery artist Nikki Besser, this class is a beginner’s introduction to paper quilling—the art of manipulating and arranging strips of paper into dimensionally detailed and decorative designs and images. Participants in this class will learn how to create the basic shapes, textures, and techniques necessary to create the featured image (finished size: approx. 5x7”). The skills learned in this project are versatile and common techniques in the understanding of this craft, establishing a good foundation of information in moving forward with future crafts that may inspire.

Seats: 15 | Ages: 12+ | Cost: $55 (supplies included)

Meet Your Instructor

NIKKI BESSER

Nikki Besser is a self-taught, multifaceted artist from northern Minnesota, in the small town of Mizpah. Her creative journey spans oil and acrylic painting, soft pastels, airbrushing, paper, and mixed craft-based techniques. With no formal training to guide her, she has built her practice through instinct, curiosity, and an unrelenting pull toward the arts that began in her early teen years. Her path has always been one of exploration—moving through mediums in search of the one that felt like home.

She found it in paper quilling. Drawn by its vibrancy, versatility, and dimensionality, with qualities unlike any other medium, Nikki discovered a form of expression that allowed her imagination to unfold in extraordinary ways. Over countless hours, she has honed her craft, shaping delicate strips of paper into intricate, sculptural worlds that blur the boundary between the real and the surreal.

Today, her work reflects a fusion of technical mastery and imaginative storytelling, transforming delicate strips of paper into immersive scenes filled with character, emotion, and symbolic depth. Through her dedication and experimentation, Nikki continues to expand the possibilities of paper quilling, using it as a vessel to create intricate narratives that invite viewers into worlds both fantastical and deeply human. Her work increasingly ventures into realms of myth, magic, and dreamlike symbolism—fantastical landscapes and archetypal figures rendered with breathtaking detail. Yet within these scenes lives something familiar, something recognizable: the timeless struggle, triumph, and wonder of being human.

She describes her practice as storytelling on a cosmic scale: revealing hidden wonders through form, color, and delicately quilled dimension. Her commitment to the medium is fueled by a passionate pursuit, to touch the heart of humanity through art, and to offer portals into worlds where the extraordinary feels possible, alive, and within reach. Nikki hopes viewers step into her work with a sense of awe, curiosity, and openness. She aims to awaken something dormant in the mind and heart—an inner stirring that reconnects us with imagination, mystery, and the stories we often forget we carry.