Paint Your Own Purse at a Central Park Table
An outdoor painting session where the canvas is a purse you keep, run by a working New York artist who supplies everything.
A low table goes up on the grass, dressed with linen, woven placemats, and small glass droppers of paint. You sit down with nine other people at most. Two hours later you leave with a black purse you painted yourself.
Everything is waiting when you arrive: the purse, the leather paints, gloves, and a sheet of stencils for anyone who wants a starting shape. No experience is required, and the table is built around that. A charcuterie board and bottled water come out while the paint dries. Decorative charms go on last.
Sessions start at 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM from Thursday through Sunday, and at 5:00 PM Monday through Wednesday. Ten seats is the cap. Booking closes sixty minutes before the start time, and confirmation comes back instantly. The booking system takes painters from age ten, and an adult has to be on the reservation.
Paint Your Purse Workshop in Central ParkArt Social NYC · Two hours · Ten seats · Purse, paints, and charcuterie includedwww.viator.comWhere to show up
The voucher names one landmark: the gilded William Tecumseh Sherman statue at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, the Fifth Avenue entrance to the park. Check-in is fifteen minutes before the start time.
Art Social NYC also sends a text one to two hours ahead with a dropped pin for the exact setup spot, and that pin is the one to walk toward. The operator's own booking page points its directly booked classes to the Columbus Circle side of the park, three long avenue blocks west of the statue. Read the message before you choose an entrance.
Who runs the table
Quiana Lewis paints portraits, murals, and digital work around New York, and she runs these sessions under her own banner, Art Social NYC. Her site traces the path into art back to a degree in Biology, and credits it for an eye trained on anatomy, structure, and detail.
What that buys you at the table is a teacher who paints for a living. One reviewer on the listing, Morgan_B, drew the line this way: the instructor is a real artist, so it wasn't like your usual sip and paint. The murals and gallery work continue alongside the workshops, including a group show at Heath Gallery in Harlem.
How the two hours are spent
The clock is fixed at 120 minutes and the sequence does not vary. You pick a stencil or draw your own design, paint the purse with leather paints, then eat while it dries. Charms go on at the end, and the bag leaves with you.
Ten seats is a hard cap, and everyone paints at the same time. The session runs in the open air on the grass. Dress for sitting outside for two hours.
Weather, refunds, and access
- Cancel at least 24 hours before the start time for a full refund on the Viator booking.
- The session is weather dependent. If Art Social NYC calls a class off for weather, its own policy offers a reschedule into any future class at no added cost, or a full refund if the new date does not work.
- Mobile and paper tickets are both accepted, one per booking.
- The listing marks the session wheelchair accessible, with all areas and surfaces accessible and service animals allowed. It is not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries.
- Strollers are fine, and public transport runs close by.
The pin on this page marks the Sherman statue, the check-in point named on the voucher. The table itself goes up on the grass past the Fifth Avenue entrance.
A five o'clock session is done by seven, which leaves you back on Fifth Avenue at dusk carrying a bag that exists in one copy.