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Each week, KCUR's Adventure! newsletter brings you a new way to explore the Kansas City region.

At Kansas City's drawing and painting clubs, find artistic inspiration and new friends

An ink and watercolor drawing of people sketching inside Family Tree Nursery, with plants all around.
Kelly Phillips
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Facebook
Drawing groups help build community and explore new places, like at a recent Urban Sketchers KC event at Family Tree Nursery.

Drawing is an an easy hobby that you can take with you anywhere in the world. Around the Kansas City metro, these sketch and painting clubs meet at cafes, museums, parks, and galleries to get the inspiration flowing.

This story was first published in KCUR's Adventure newsletter. You can sign up to receive stories like this in your inbox every Tuesday.

If you are looking for a new hobby that promotes creativity and builds community, consider joining a sketching, drawing, or painting club or group around Kansas City.

Sketching is a 100% rules-free art practice that only requires something to mark on (traditionally, a sketchbook) and something to mark with (pen, pencil, pastels, paint, markers, you name it). It’s the basis for nearly all other art-making, but also an invigorating practice in itself. You can do it home or in nature, at a cafe or on vacation.

These sketching, painting and drawing groups will allow you to hone your skills while meeting new people, creating connections, exploring different parts of the metro area, and trying out new techniques and styles.

Never drawn before? Learn the basics at Kansas City Public Library’s free Drawing 101 class, part of the library’s 101 series designed to encourage lifelong learning for adults. Or check out the many classes and online videos from Mid-Continent Library’s Access Arts series, which includes the Tiny Art Show.

The Kansas City, Kansas Public Library also hosts events, like the recent “Paint Each Other Portrait Challenge,” for kids 8-18.

Check out these options for sketch sessions and art clubs around Kansas City.

Sketchbook Club at Charlotte Street

A person in a red hoodie sweatshirt, graphic tshirt and multicolored striped crown draws on a pad while a person with brown hair draws in the foreground.
Charlotte Street
Charlotte Street's Sketchbook Club is a "no barriers drawing club."

At Charlotte Street, drop in at the bimonthly Sketchbook Club every other third Saturday afternoon starting Feb. 15, 1-3 p.m.

Sketchbook Club was started by Amy Kligman and now run by Amanda Middaugh, CSF’s development and marketing director. Described on the events page as a “no-barriers drawing club for participants of all ages and abilities,” the group meets in Charlotte Street’s reference library. There’s a beautiful view of the courtyard outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, so there’s plenty of visual stimuli to draw from.

They have mixed media materials and snacks on hand, there’s music playing and conversation, so the environment is low pressure, welcoming and creative. You can bring your own sketchbook and materials, or contribute to Charlotte Street’s collaborative sketchbooks.

Open Drawing at the Kemper Museum

People sit in the atrium of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and draw on paper.
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art hosts an Open Drawing event monthly.

Museums offer plenty of inspiration and are a popular place to sketch. Most places will let you bring your pad and a pencil into the galleries and also provide folding stools (check about what’s allowed before you go).

At the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, join the monthly Open Drawing on first Thursdays from 6-8 p.m, open to all levels of experience.

The Kemper provides some drawing materials, or you can bring your own paper and pencil. There are tables set up in the Atrium or you can find a spot in the galleries to sketch. (Only graphite pencils, colored pencils, and crayons are allowed inside the museum.)

And while you are there check out Sonic Sights, a collaboration with KCUR’s sister station Classical KC, with QR codes linking you to contemporary classical music paired with the artworks.

Joining a group

A man paints a watercolor of ginko trees in a crowded park.
Hakan Nural
/
Unsplash
Joining others outside for plein air (outdoor) painting is a way to enjoy company, nature, and art making.

Sketching groups can be a couple of friends, or an international force. Urban Sketchers was started in 2007 by a journalist in Seattle, but grew to hundreds of chapters around the world.

The group’s manifesto is “We show the world, one drawing at a time.” Sketching is always on location, inside and out, from direct observation, and the group provides a platform for support and sharing.

There’s an Urban Sketchers chapter in Kansas City, which meets all around the city with both Sketch Outs (where you sit and sketch) and Sketch Walks (where you sketch progressively through an area). Watercolor, pen and ink, charcoal — any media is welcome, but the aim is to bear witness to the world around us, to capture the time and place.

If that’s your vibe, consider en plein air (outdoor) painting with groups like the MidAmerica Pastel Society, which hosts monthly events at places like Shawnee Mission Lake and also provides a suggested supplies list, to help you get started.

Along with opportunities at your local libraries, also look for events through area parks and recreation departments. KC Parks and Rec hosts a variety of Plein Air Quick Paint contests throughout the year, while Platte City’s Friends of the Arts has Plein Air Platte City in May.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to share what you’re creating, consider joining the Kansas City Artists Coalition’s Sketchbook Project, which has open registration through March 25, 2025. Purchase a sketchbook for $20 fee, return it in April, and your work will be displayed at KCAC in July.

Forming your own group

A person holds open a blank sketchbook.
Kat Macate
/
Unsplash
If you want to be part of a sketching community, consider creating your own sketching group.

If you are interested in joining a sketchbook group, you can find opportunities online or through arts organizations. The KC Coffee and Sketchbook Jam hosts regular events (sometimes twice a month) at various locations, while Grandview Coffee and Sketchbook Meetup Group generally gathers at Housewife Cafe in Grandview, Missouri, both groups organized through MeetUp.

Or, you can start your own!

Building a group or club is about creating a welcoming environment, providing regular opportunities for creativity, and sharing that with others through old school fliers and new school social media (which is also a great place to share what you’re working on, too!).

Originally from Indiana, Libby Hanssen is a freelance writer in Kansas City. She is the author of States of Swing: The History of the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, 2003-2023. Along with degrees in trombone performance, Libby was a Fellow for the NEA Arts Journalism Institute at Columbia University. Learn more at Proust Eats a Sandwich.
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