Anybody and everybody can MAKE art, SEE art, or even BE art at the League’s Open House event. Students and Instructors will be onsite to run demos and lead workshops for people of all ages and levels of artistic know-how. League Models dressed to the nines will pose for a series of live sketch sessions. And you, too, can take the stage and become a work of art.
I wanna go! How do I get tickets?
Welcome to the Art Students League’s Landmark Birthday Extravaganza! The OPEN HOUSE | OPEN STUDIO program features more than 20 art happenings including demonstrations, exhibitions, workshops, and tours.
About the workshops Art-making workshop are available on a drop-in basis. You can stay for the entire time or get something done in as little as 15 minutes. Materials are provided for all workshops.
About the exhibitions There are exhibitions in eight locations around the League. Work is for sale in the Ground Floor galleries. Proceeds are split between the artists and the League.
KEY: All Family-Friendly Activities recorded in TEAL.
Top League artists draw, paint and sculpt to create art on 57th Street, working from models in the League’s front windows.
Join a drop-in workshop exploring the basics of clay sculpture and relief work.
Watch and learn as Sculpture Instructor Barney Hodes sculpts a big head (a REALLY BIG HEAD).
Have you always wanted to try your hand at drawing the model? Have you ever thought about what it’s like to be an artists’ model? Well this is your chance! You’ll be able to draw inspiring League models or try out your own best poses along with them.
Demonstrations of the relief laser engraving, pigment transfer and stone lithography process.
11:30 am – 12:00 pm Introduction to lithography by Tomomi Ono
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Demonstration of relief laser engraving by Sylvie Covey
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Demonstration of pigment transfer by Sylvie Covey
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Demonstration of stone lithography by Tomomi Ono
When was the last time you painted? Yesterday? Yesteryear? Let’s paint together, every level welcome. Tips on how to get started, mixing paint, and the painting process. You’ll go home with a painting.
A demonstration of the alla prima method of painting, from start to finish. Highlighting the relationship between light and color. Discussion of methods of seeing, composing and relating color to build space and form.
Take a tour around the League’s 125-year-old Landmark building and see original(ish) paint drips from Jackson Pollock (maybe). Find out stuff that even most of the people who go to the League don’t know. Also explore a collection of images from the League’s studios from over 125 years on 57th Street and key historical documents.
Use a prompt to create a 3-D environment with League Instructor Susan Cirigliano.
Get acquainted with one of the classic principles of animation by learning how to draw the famous Flour Sack! A perfect vehicle for exploring mass, volume, organic shape, and movement.
Screening of ART BASTARD, a historical documentary film on Robert Cenedella’s life and work, followed by a Q&A with Mr. Cenedella and Executive Director, Mr. Michael Rips. This film was released in June of 2016 by Concannon Productions to critical acclaim.
A New York Times Critic’s Pick! Described as a “Robust documentary portrait of lifelong rebel and art-world gadfly … Cenedella comes across as a reassuring voice of sanity,” by Stephen Holden of The New York Times.
Naomi Campbell instructs the Contemporary Figure in Watercolor exploring a wide range of dynamic approaches from the representational to very contemporary views, for which she is known. Explore a rare short demo alongside a sample of artworks created by League students.
Portrait demonstration and discussion on the legacy of Studio 7 including the importance of classical tradition lineage, from Frank Vincent DuMond to Frank Mason to Thomas Torak.
Crystal Durant will teach you how to create a groovy, one-of-a-kind print, using multi-colored tempera paints & household foil.
Using a variety of drawing techniques and materials, young artists will explore different ways of capturing quick poses.
In this workshop, Instructor Steve Walker will go over some of the fundamentals that you need to begin to make your own comic or graphic novel.
A talk with drawing demonstrations of the essential differences between figures portrayed by Michelangelo and those created by the Greeks, as discussed by Auguste Rodin in his book; “Art: Conversations with Paul Gsell.”
Be inspired by the sounds of nature! While listening to recordings from nature, League Instructor Silya Kiese will guide you through short, simple, writing exercises to access and expand your inner creativity.
Demonstrating Costa Vavagiakis’s process of creating a portrait on toned paper using graphite and white chalk.
See a sample of work from students and instructors that comes out of the League’s venerable printmaking studios. Then visit the studios on the third floor.
The finest exhibition of work by artists aged 8-18 you’ll ever see. Works are $125 each.
A market of work by emerging artists affiliated with the League. Bring home amazing art for a very affordable price. Reserve prices range from $50 to $3,500. Proceeds benefit the League.
In a re-creation of the famed 19th century Vanderbilt gallery, you can commune with Permanent Collection works by League alumni including Alexander Calder, Charles Alston, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and Georgia O’Keeffe; and by dozens of master artists who teach at the League today.
Each year from January through May, student work is presented in the League’s gallery. This week’s class exhibitions show sculpture and realistic drawings and paintings from four different studios.
More work from the League’s Permanent Collection. And coffee and pastries.
Explore a collection of images from the League’s studios from over 125 years on 57th Street and key historical documents.
The League’s Art Supply Store specializes in fine art supplies for drawing, painting, sculpting, and printmaking. We also have gifts (and gift certificates) to help you remember your visit to the League.
Best Food Value on 57th Street: Fresh Pastries, Sandwiches, Soups, Specialties of the House: Empanadas and Tandoori-Chicken Kebabs and … Coffee!