December 3, 2025 Sketch The China Institute

 Weekday Sketchers at China Institute Wednesday

Join us this week to visit one of the lesser known galleries in the city: The China Institute.  Located almost at the tip of Manhattan, The China Institute offers a compendium of services, classes, and outreach to the Chinese community, including an excellent art gallery. The current exhibit, entitled "Metamorphosis: Chinese Imagination and Transformation highlights works by 28 contemporary artists of Chinese descent, who explore themes of personal, cultural, historical and material metamorphosis in dynamic and innovative ways."

For more information about the Chinese Institute and the current exhibit, click here: https://chinainstitute.org/gallery-exhibitions/current-exhibition/ 

DATE: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2025

TIME: 10:30 AM

LOCATION:  CHINA INSTITUTE 

                       100 WASHINGTON STREET (temporary entrance at 40 Rector St. 2nd floor) 

 

            NOTE: There is an entrance fee of $10 for Seniors and Students and $15 FOR Adults.  You will need of ID to get through security in the building.

TRANSPORTATION: 1 train to Rector Street or the 4, 5 to Wall Street.

NOTES

• Please RSVP directly to Raylie Dunkel at President@nycurbansketches.org
• Looking for us? Call Raylie at 201-273-0445.    
• Bring a stool and dry medium (pencil or color pencil only) to work with. 
• Water and bathrooms are available
• There is no food allowed in the gallery 
• There is no food service in the China Institute 

FRIDAY, December 5, 2025: WESTCHESTER Sketchers at the Katonah Museum of Art

The Katonah Museum of Art is a non-collecting institution geared towards visual arts, located in Katonah, New York.  The Museum presents changing exhibitions that cross a spectrum of artistic disciplines, cultures, and historical periods.  Housed in an elegant building designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, and accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Katonah Museum of Art originates three to four major exhibitions annually.

Come join us for something a little different from our usual sketching activities. We have been invited to participate in the Museum's Senior Social Afternoon where you will enjoy guided exhibition tours, an engaging art demonstration, light refreshments, and great company. 

Currently on Exhibit:

Shen Wei: STILL/MOVING

This exhibition commemorates thirty years of Shen Wei’s visionary career as a dancer, choreographer, visual artist, and global cultural ambassador. The exhibition, an unprecedented joint presentation between the Katonah Museum of Art and The Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, will illuminate the full scope of the artist’s practice, offering viewers rare access to his paintings, films, new choreographic works, and video highlights of the Shen Wei Dance Arts repertoire. Shen Wei’s visual art captures the body in motion through his dynamic brushwork that seamlessly incorporates Chinese calligraphy and allusions to post-World War II abstract painting movements like Action Painting and Gutai, among others. Traditional Chinese shan shui (mountain-water) painting offers an additional source of inspiration for his abstract and visionary landscapes. 

DETAILS:

DATE: FRIDAY, December 5, 2025.

Time: Our official event will be 1:00 - 3:00 pm, but please arrive before 1:00 PM to start with a tour of the current exhibit.  We will be participating in the SENIOR SOCIAL AFTERNOON of art, refreshments, and socializing. Our own Diane Bloom will be giving an art demonstration on Chinese brushes and watercolor painting.

Register here: https://www.simpletix.com/e/senior-social-afternoon-tickets-237950

LOCATION: Katonah Museum of Art 134 Jay Street - Route 22, Katonah, NY 10536

Phone: (914) 232-9555 

DIRECTIONS: https://www.katonahmuseum.org/visit/getting-here.php
From NYC: From Grand Central Terminal, take the Metro-North Harlem Line to Katonah Station. The trip one-way from Grand Central is about 1 hour 15 minutes. The Museum is located 0.7 miles east of the Katonah train station. From the train station, it is a 10-20-minute walk. Taxi service is also available. For daily train schedules, visit MTA. 

LUNCH: Due to our later start, we will not stop for lunch.  

NOTES:

• Admission: Seniors $9, others $12.
• Reciprocal Admission: Fairfield Westchester Museum Alliance (FWMA), North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM), American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Members.  Also check check your local Library Pass Program.
• Food, drink, chewing gum and tobacco products are not allowed in the galleries.
• For the current exhibits, we will not be allowed to sketch in the galleries.  We can, however, sketch outdoors, and use watercolor and non messy materials in the Learning Center. 

Please RSVP to Cathy Gutterman at westchester@nycurbansketchers.org

Please also register for the Senior Social Afternoon here:

https://www.simpletix.com/e/senior-social-afternoon-tickets-237950

Looking for us? 

Call/text: Cathy at (914) 625-0766

There are no fees. All drawing skill levels are welcome.

Saturday 11/29/25: Weekend Sketchers at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

 

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the world's largest Gothic Cathedral, combining soaring architecture with intimate spaces that inspire awe and reflection. Standing tall over Amsterdam Avenue and still under construction for more than 100 years, St. John's offers us a trove of sketching possibilities.

As an added bonus, Paul Winter will be rehearsing for his winter show from around 2pm on.

Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $10 for students. Once you check in at the desk and receive your sticker you can come and go as you please throughout the day. You do not need timed tickets. 

Host: Shaojia Li (412) 251-9024

Date: Saturday 11/29/25

Time: Sketching 10am - 3pm | Show and Tell beginning at 3pm. 

Location: 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street, NY, NY

Meeting spot:  Join the sketchers spread throughout the cathedral. 

Show and Tell location: St. James chapel. Check with the host day-of for the exact show-and-tell location. 

Seating:  There is seating. A stool gives you more options.

Food, drink, restrooms: There are restrooms in the cathedral and plenty of food options in the neighborhood. .

About NYC Urban Sketchers Events: All are welcome–no fee, no registration. Just look for folks with sketchbooks at the meeting spot and say hello. If you have trouble finding us, contact the host; their contact info is in the NYC Urban Sketchers blog post for this event.  #nycurbansketchers.

Saturday 11/22/25: Weekend Sketchers at The Met, Rockefeller Wing

 

We have sketched at The Met many times, but as the fourth largest museum in the world, housing over 1.5 million works of art, we could go every weekend and never sketch it all. To keep it interesting, rather than generally sketching the entire collection, let’s focus on a specific gallery each time we go this winter and really explore. No better place to start than the newly opened Rockefeller wing.

The Met’s collections of the arts of Africa, the ancient Americas, and Oceania, returned in May 2025 in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the three major collections—spanning five continents and hundreds of cultures—now stand as independent entities. This thoughtful new presentation expands and deepens the stories of the objects. Digital features, commissioned films, and new wall text provide more context, while favorite works beloved by longtime visitors are showcased in innovative new ways. There are also objects on view for the first time, including major acquisitions of historic and contemporary works in the Arts of Africa galleries, a gallery dedicated to light-sensitive ancient Andean textiles, contemporary commissions, and new acquisitions by Indigenous Pacific artists.

Host: Dan Honig (917) 843-5539

Date: Saturday 11/22/25

Time: Sketching 10am - 3pm | Show and Tell beginning at 3pm. 

Location: The Met, 1000 Fifth Avenue (82nd St), Manhattan, NYC

Meeting spot:  Meet in the Rockefeller Wing.

Show and Tell location: Check with the host day-of for the exact show-and-tell location. 

Seating:  There is limited seating in the Rockefeller Wing. A stool gives you more options.

Food, drink, restrooms: There are restrooms and food options in the museum.

About NYC Urban Sketchers Events: All are welcome–no fee, no registration. Just look for folks with sketchbooks at the meeting spot and say hello. If you have trouble finding us, contact the host; their contact info is in the NYC Urban Sketchers blog post for this event.  #nycurbansketchers.

Weekday and Westchester Sketch at MOMA 11/19

Weekday & Westchester Sketchers Joint Meeting at MOMA

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) has seemingly unending rooms and exhibits.  With so much to see it is often hard to decide what to sketch   So, this week let's focus in on one exhibit: the current show of work by Ruth Asawa. Sculptures that look like they were knitted with wire, intricate lithographs and colorful prints offer many opportunities to fill our sketchbooks.   But feel free to wander the museum and find the site that interests you the most. 

Carol Kreider, Cathy Gutterman and Marianne Milzoff, will host this event and meet you in the lobby with instructions for a throw down. 

 

DATE: NOVEMBER 19, 2025

STARTING TIME: 10:30 AM

LOCATION: MOMA, 11West 53rd Street, 10019

TRANSPORTATION: E or M train to 5th Ave/53rd Street

NOTES

• Please RSVP directly to Cathy Gutterman at Westchester@nycurbansketchers.org.
• Looking for us?   Call or text Cathy at 914-625-0766 OR Marianne at 914 355 6507 OR Carol at 949-929-2616.
• There is an admission charge of $30 for Adults and $22 for Seniors.  The museum accepts many discount programs including the NYC Culture Pass and the American Association of Museum membership. Check the web site for details. Anyone with one of these memberships that offer two tickets, please pass one along to a fellow sketcher. 
• Many libraries offer Museum Passes. Check your local library.  
• Food, water and bathrooms are available.
• Be prepared to work in dry materials. 
• You many use stools in the galleries 

Saturday 11/15/25: Weekend Sketchers at Columbia Forum

The Forum, located on the corner of 125th Street and Broadway, is a unique community gathering space open to the public. It has a huge street-level space with floor-to-ceiling glass, allowing for interesting views of the area under the 1 train, which is elevated at 125th Street.  From the western end there's an interesting view towards the Hudson under the elevated West Side Highway. The space is filled with tables and chairs, it’s warm, has restrooms, and there's lots of places around to get coffee, lunch, etc. It’s always a comfortable spot for indoor sketching. 

Host: Leslie Sim (516) 633-2340

Date: Saturday 11/15/25

Time: Sketching: 10am - 3pm | Show and Tell: Beginning at 3pm. 

Location: The Columbia Forum- Corner of Broadway and 125th Street, Manhattan, NYC

Meeting spot:  In the lobby of the Columbia Forum.

Show and Tell location: In the lobby of the Columbia Forum. Check with the host day-of for the exact show-and-tell location. 

Seating:  There are lots of tables and chairs. A stool gives you more options if you want to venture outside.

Food, drink, restrooms: There are restrooms in the building and lots of options for food in the immediate area.

About NYC Urban Sketchers Events: All are welcome–no fee, no registration. Just look for folks with sketchbooks at the meeting spot and say hello. If you have trouble finding us, contact the host; their contact info is in the NYC Urban Sketchers blog post for this event.  #nycurbansketchers.

NJ Sketchers 11/14 Paterson Museum

 

Sketch at the Paterson Museum

From airplanes to locomotives to early Indian culture there’s plenty to sketch. 

The Wright Aeronautical Corporation 

was headquartered in Paterson. During the Second World War, the Wrights played a major part in the war effort. The plants in and around Paterson produced over 142,000 aircraft engines. 

Machine and Locomotive Industries

The machine shops of Paterson developed a reputation for employing the best men and producing the finest machinery in the United States. This is where the earliest machines that would spin and weave cotton were constructed and maintained. The total number of locomotives produced from 1837 to 1926 in Paterson amounts to over 10,000.

Pequapick 

This exhibit, comprised of artifacts and replications representing the Delaware-Lenape culture, has been designed to generate an appreciation of the ingenuity and harmonious environmental adaptation of this indigenous culture.

Silk Industry 

The museum has a collection of colorful spools and machines from this era. 

When: Friday, November 14, 2025

Where: Paterson Museum 

2 Market Street

Paterson, New Jersey 07501

Time: 10:30am

No charge, but you can give a donation. 

Bring your lunch and drinks and a stool.

RSVP to margaret.casagrande@gmail.com

646-515-9913

There are no fees to join the group. All levels welcome.

Sketch Cast Hall 11/12

Weekday Sketchers at Cast Hall

Join us as we return to a favorite sketching site, the Institute for Classical  Architecture and Art's Cast Hall.

Cast Hall

Long ago, before the Met Museum was the major institution that it is now and could afford the real statures that we now see in the Greek and Roman Galleries, they displayed plaster casts of the original statures.  Once the real statures replaced the plaster casts, the casts went into storage and were largely forgotten. Then the Met donated them to the ICAA, who restored them and put them on display in...Cast Hall.

ICAA Library

Bring your watercolors, bring your lunch but don't bring a stool as there are tables and chairs for us to use.   For more information about the ICAA, its services and trips, click here:https://www.classicist.org

But wait!  That's not all!

The building that houses the ICAA, The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, is an artifact by itself,  with a Lock Museum, a multi-level library with a stained glass ceiling, beautiful hallways, railings and an incredible sculpture of an arm (you have to see it for yourself).  When you get tired of drawing the statures walk into the hallway and sketch this building that is a true hidden gem of NYC. 

DATE:  WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 12, 2025

STARTING TIME: 10:30 AM

LOCATION:  THE INSTITUTE FOR CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE AND ART 

                       THE MECHANICS AND TRADESMAN BUILDING

                        20 West 44th Street NYC, 10036

TRANSPORTATION: B, D, F, M to 42nd Street/Bryant Park Station or 7 to 5th Ave Station. 

                        

NOTES

• Please RSVP directly to Lorraine Smith at  thipph16@gmail.com
• Looking for us? Call or textLorraine at 929-614-1930
• Water and bathrooms are available 
• Bring your lunch or purchase it from the local food outlets
• You can work in wet media

THURSDAY, November 13, 2025: WESTCHESTER Sketchers at the Rye Arts Center

The Rye Art Center was founded in 1960 by five Rye families and four hundred odd dollars. It has grown into the largest multi-arts center in the region. We will be sketching their current exhibits.

Complements: Charles Addams & Suzanne Heilmann

COMPLEMENTS is provocative, whimsical, witty, and spotlights the serendipitous creations of two powerfully inventive minds. Art imitating art, without knowing it.

Tropical Surrealism & Other Stories by Gabriela Bornstein

The artist's Tropical Surrealism series reimagines ancestral memory and Afro-Indigenous culture through vibrant, dreamlike scenes that confront the legacy of colonization and environmental injustice. In the Generation Series, Gabriela turns inward to reflect on motherhood, loss, and lineage, honoring the women who shaped her life.

DETAILS:

DATE: THURSDAY, November 13, 2025

START TIME: 10:00 AM
  

LOCATION: Rye Arts Center, www.ryeartscenter.org 51 Milton Road, Rye, NY 10580. 

Phone: (914) 967-0700.

DIRECTIONS: https://www.mapquest.com/us/new-york/rye-arts-center-464332070

PARKING:  You can park comfortably in the back lot behind the Center.

FROM Grand Central Terminal, NYC: Take the Metro-North New Haven Line to the Mamaroneck station.  Please contact Marianne Milzoff at mmilzoff@optimum.net to arrange transportation from the station.

LUNCH followed by Show and Tell: 12:30 PM:  Bring your lunch or purchase it on nearby Purchase Street.  

NOTES: 

• While Admission is FREE,  please consider giving a small donation to thank the Center for its hospitality.
• Drawing stools are permitted. 

Please RSVP to Cathy Gutterman at westchester@nycurbansketchers.org

Looking for us? 

Call/text: Cathy at (914) 625-0766 or Marianne at (914) 355-6507

Saturday 11/8/25: Weekend Sketchers at the Draw-A-Thon 22

 

It's the Art and Design High School’s fundraising marathon- nine straight hours of life drawing to sharpen your skills- all for a good cause. Come at any time and stay as long as you like.  The entire cafeteria has costumed models, while the gymnasium hosts traditional figure drawing. The High School is an important NYC institution, and a number of our sketchers are graduates.  It’s a great meeting place where you're likely to see many of your art friends and other NYC based artists.

It is less expensive to purchase your ticket online versus buying it at the door. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite:

Art and Design Alumni Association Draw-A-Thon 22 Tickets, Sat, Nov 8, 2025 at 10:00 AM | Eventbrite

Host: No host needed, the event runs itself

Date: Saturday 11/8/25

Time: The event runs from 10am to 7pm. Come at any time and stay as long as you like.

Location: 245 E 56th Street, NY, NY

Meeting spot:  No meeting spot. 

Show and Tell location: No show and tell. 

Seating: Seats are provided.

Food, drink, restrooms: There are restrooms and food on the floor.

11/7 NJ Sketchers at Clifton Arts Center

 

Meet the NJ Urban Sketchers at Clifton Arts Center and Sculpture Garden. The site is a 26-acre area on the municipal property of Clifton.Over 30 sculptures to be inspired by.

STARTING TIME: 11:00am

LOCATION: 900 Clifton Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07013

RSVP to: Julia Bazaz 

jazaz7658@gmail.com

(551) 206-1273

Bring a stool and your lunch. Bathroom available.

instagram: @njurbansketchers

All welcome, no fees to attend