Bramley Baths Sketch Club

Bramley Baths Sketch Club is back for its next session on Saturday 24 January, from 12pm to 2pm at Bramley Baths on Broad Lane. It's part of the Baths' wider 'More Than a Pool' heritage programme, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which is working to restore and protect the building while piloting new activities around heritage, health and wellbeing, arts and culture.

The format is simple: each session takes the group out into the local area to discover the places, people and hidden gems that make the community special. You'll get creative prompts, guidance and sketching tips in a relaxed, welcoming space, so it works as well for experienced artists as it does for beginners. It's more of a slow look around the neighbourhood than a formal class, and the focus is as much on noticing the area as it is on the drawing itself.

Two local artists lead the sessions. Michael is a Bramley-based artist who studied Art and Design at Pratt Institute in New York and is currently completing a Master's in Art Psychotherapy; he runs art workshops across Leeds. Ashton is an urban sketcher and designer who, since graduating from Leeds Arts University, has worked in freelance design, community arts and creative internships. Between them, they bring a good mix of formal training and a real interest in sketching the city as it is.

Bramley Baths itself is a community-led, not-for-profit centre built on the site of a foundry and opened in 1904 as a pool and public bath-house, complete with Russian Steam Baths. The session runs from 12pm to 2pm on Saturday 24 January and costs £8.