El Papél: 0326
“If we care about artists’ legacies, we have to care about the conditions under which those legacies are allowed to survive, long before the market decides they matter.”
Communities don't exist for convenience. They are relationships and active obligations. They exist for connection, which requires responsibility and mutual care.
They require for people to leave their egos at the door and be vulnerable to making a mess alongside others. I’ve been recently attending the karaoke nights at Madrone Art Bar after Sketchboard on Tuesday nights from 930pm to 12pm, and it’s been an interesting correlation of doing things that scare you, make you vulnerable, and is transient. Just like art modeling, just like figure drawing. Highly recommended. Liquid courage and peer pressure often does the trick, but how can we do that for ourselves? How we carry ourselves and treat others in shared community spaces reflects our political values. Do we just stay complacent when things don’t feel right? Where do we draw the line? (Get it?)
Being responsible for your participation, showing up intentionally, and challenging the conditions that are meant to keep us isolated—builds hope.
It reminded me of murmurations in starlings. Starlings often gather in swarms when predatory birds, such as sparrowhawks, are nearby. The presence of predators triggered larger murmurations that lasted longer, indicating that the flocking behavior may have evolved as a defense strategy, according to a study. When things get hard for humans, from my experience - we often lean into community.
Another example I’d like to connect this to is the choreography done for the Super Bowl Halftime Show. You know the one: El Conejo Malo.
Those dancers were relentlessly showing up to rehearsals, put 110% into it, and created this faux village of Puerto Rico in the middle of Santa Rosa, California. Despite the whispers of possible feds coming in and breaking up the party, everyone still showed up to dance their asses off. Dancing in formation, weaving, and bobbing around their environments. A celebration of diversity, and questioning whose America this is, really.
The shame of knowing the system prefers artists who can absorb risk quietly. It is the ongoing labor of maintaining the appearance of being okay long enough for the market to catch up, or for institutions to intervene, or for history to decide you were worth preserving. And when that performance fails, the consequences are real. Our communities can no longer silence the shame. We have named its instability and absorbed it. We have tasted fear and swallowed it. Our narrative resilience will not be made into a spectacle for others to say “thanks for your sacrifice!”. Our parents have heard that for the last few generations, and not much has changed but what we’re willing to give up, just to put food on the table. There is a visceral shame that comes from performing for stability. And capitalism has monopolized this crutch to become a part of the collective archive. Who gets to decide what history looks like?
“Artists are expected to perform being okay when they often are not. The art world rewards the appearance of stability. It punishes visible need. Shame enters when an artist’s reality cannot sustain that fiction.”
Every week, we gather to draw the human form—not as isolated practitioners, but as witnesses to each other's growth. As witnesses to the culture bearers of this city.
The act of seeing and being seen, of marking paper in the presence of others, is itself an act of building the village we need. It keeps us connected to our humanity, our empathy, and our ability to feel. How do artists usually archive the communities and culture we are a part of? Apart from photos and videos, the most accessible medium for many artists is pen and paper. This is why we share our sketches at the end of each session, to be vulnerable about our messes. This is why we encourage each other to try new perspectives or new mediums. Creating visual art is part of our collective record, which captures the ephemeral and brings a sense of permanence.
Not all art has to directly answer every issue or mirror events to matter. Power can come from intense attention or from making the collective feel tangible. Sometimes, art’s only job is to remind us what we don’t want to lose. If we really want to find tangible ways to channel our frustration and our sadness, we must care about the legacies artists get to leave behind. We must refuse the lie that artists are solely responsible for their own erasure.
Doesn't it suck when you lose something? Whether it's your keys, wallet, or your sketchbook (god forbid) - it’s a really terrible feeling when we lose spaces and didn’t even get to say goodbye properly. We’ve all been there, right? (Syzygy, Omni, Firehouse, Wolfepack, and now Ruth’s Table). Building spaces, alliances, and community are quiet political acts. All great art is born from these efforts. Not from the commodified professionalization of the field, not from being a spectacle for the 1%, but from being a village that sustains an economy where we fulfill our basic human need for belonging. So when we support and nurture each other, we are collectively consenting to a culture that is rooted in empathy.
When people say they want a village, they're naming a desire for support, safety, and belonging. In a village, care adjusts and grows. Just like starlings. It’s love through symbiosis. When we give our community and its spaces the love and resources, we can achieve great things. Take Alyssa Liu, a great example of when we prioritize nurturing our relationships and maintain each space with respect, integrity, and honesty. And take spaces like Sketchboard has created - rooted in passion and admiration to continuously be better.
Updates:
We are moving, again!!! CAST Monday sessions are moving to our new home and art studio - MassArts at Frontier Tower on 6th and Market. We are starting in March.
And we are adding a new date for instructed sessions!! Sundays at 11am-3pm. starting in April.
Another venue is sunsetting on us: Ruth’s table has decided to end their free figure drawing programming. This means no more free programming at the Last Thursdays after February.
We still have 1 more seat for both Franklin Lei’s Gouache Workshop. Seats are filled up for Jeff Lance’s free, 1 day workshop. We’ll be releasing the second half of the year of workshops in April! Charcoal, fashion illustration, and oil painting.
If you are challenging yourself this month for Figuary theme, consider submitting your favorite pieces to our BiAnnual Zine! We’ll have 2 submission dates listed on our website. It’s a great way to get your stuff out there, help us raise money, and start gathering pieces for our bigger project: a coffee thick photo book of our 15 or 20 year anniversary.
If you really love a certain sketch and planned on framing it or finishing it into a painting or refined drawing - consider submitting it to our 13th Year Anniversary Art Show! Yep, we’re doing it again. This time, at 5 Olive Gallery for 2 months in the Tenderloin! It would run from August to September.
Upcoming Events:
2 DAY LONG POSES MOVING FROM MONDAY NIGHTS TO SATURDAY AFTERNOONS!
We promise this is the last time we are moving spaces, but we are excited for this new, sustainable venture. It’s on the 6th floor of the Frontier Tower.
📅 Starting on 03/21/2026
🕰️ 12pm to 3pm
📍 979 Market Street, San Francisco
🎨 $20 presales / $25 walk-ins
🪑 First come first serve seating
🎨 All ages welcomed.
😷 Masks Available
WE FINALLY HAVE OPEN STUDIOS!
📅 Starting in 03/21/2026
🕰️ 3pm to 6pm
📍 979 Market Street, San Francisco
🎨 FREE TO ALL
🪑 Chairs, tables, and easels.
🎨 All ages welcomed.
😷 Masks Available
Artist Talks at Blick’s On Market!
Come join us for this free public series! We’re inviting some local artists to come talk about their practice. This is an in-person event and we currently do not have the capacity to record or livestream at this time.
This is in partnership with Blick’s Art Materials on Market Street in San Francisco.
📅 03/07/2026
🕰️ 1pm to 3pm
📍 979 Market Street, San Francisco
🎨 Free to attend
🪑 First come first serve seating
🎨 All ages welcomed.
😷 Masks Available
Our first figure drawing salon of the year: Burlesque!
That’s right suga, we got your hot cakes right here. Come join us as we get the ol’ razzle dazzle from Andy Rose and Edie Eve! This is a costumed event and will be all ages.
📅 March 1tth 2026
🕰️ 2pm to 4pm
📍 140 9th Street, San Francisco
🎨 $30 presales and walk-ins.
