Ken O’Connell

La Romita has had a long, wonderful friendship with Ken O’Connell, a collaboration spanning over 20 years. We consider him to be the godfather of Urban Sketching. Though perhaps he is not as well known in that global community as he should be, he was actively pursuing that approach to art and teaching it years before the community “officially” formed.

Ken O’Connell has worked in his sketchbook/journals since 1961. He has filled over 107 books with images from Japan, Germany, France, Mexico, Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, and the USA. Ken was a professor of Art at the University of Oregon for 28 years – 12 years as the Head of its Fine and Applied Art Department. For the next 25 years he taught over 55 Sketchbook Workshops; 2025 marks his 56th.

For decades, people have associated Ken with sketchbooks and Workshops along the Oregon Coast and in Italy. But he was also a painter, photographer, printmaker, animator, potter, and pastel and charcoal artist. He has worked and taught all these art forms.

As of August 2025 he is working on his 108th sketchbook – evidence of and testimony to a life in art.  Find out more in this article in Oregon’s largest daily.