Community landmarks have a special power to inspire artists and non-artists alike to pick up a sketchbook and draw. The clock tower in historic downtown Hopkins, constructed as part of the 1992 Hopkins Mainstreet Improvement Project, has been an artistic subject for area artists and residents for more than 30 years.
Artist Kar-Keat Chong created this ink-and-watercolor sketch of the clock tower during a public event at Hopkins’s annual Raspberry Festival in 2025. Hosted by Urban Sketchers Twin Cities and sponsored by local art supply store Wet Paint, the event invited festival-goers to pick up a sketchbook and pen and sketch alongside Chong as he demonstrated his approach to urban sketching…