Urban Sketchers Events and Workshops
Urban Sketchers Singapore will host the 2015 International
Urban Sketchers Symposium! |
The 2015 International Urban Sketchers Symposium will take place in Singapore! Singapore was selected unanimously by the Urban Sketchers Symposium Committee, whose recommendation was approved enthusiastically by the Urban Sketchers Executive Board. USk Vice President and Events Director Elizabeth Alley said, “We are excited to take the Urban Sketching Symposium to Asia for the first time and to work with the Urban Sketchers Singapore regional chapter.” The winning proposal was presented by Tia Boon Sim, Patrick Ng, Paul Wang and Tony Chua. Several other promising proposals were submitted from around the world; those applicants have been encouraged to apply again to host a future symposium. The dates of the 2015 Symposium will be announced soon.
The Urban Sketchers Executive Board is pleased to announce that Brenda Murray (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) has joined the Executive Board as the Communications Director. Brenda is owner of Indelible Creative, a marketing/communications company that makes whiteboard animations and creates marketing packages for clients. Brenda is the organizer of Kitchener Waterloo Urban Sketchers, the mother of three, the wife of one, and a beagle owner. She has a BA and an MA from the University of Waterloo in English and Fine Arts. “I’m excited about urban sketching and its potential to build a community for practicing and closet artists,” Brenda said. “I’m looking forward to working with the Executive Board to develop integrated communication strategies, systems and tools that will help us articulate our message.”
Jim Richards and Elizabeth Alley give out sketchbooks in Savannah. |
Urban Sketchers and the Telfair Museum in Savannah (USA) sponsored an all-day event Oct. 4 featuring a morning workshop taught by James Richards and an afternoon “family day” open house during which Jim and USk Vice President and Events Director Elizabeth Alley gave away sketchbooks, discussed Urban Sketchers and produced well over a hundred drawings for children. Sketcher Kip Bradley rounded off the successful event by leading an early-evening sketchcrawl.
News from Urban Sketchers Communities
Sketchers from Canada and the U.S. weren’t daunted by a little rain in Ithaca!
(photo by Lynn Pashleigh) |
Urban sketchers from Kitchener/Waterloo, Montreal, New York and Toronto organized a sketchcrawl at the “halfway” point in Ithaca, NY (USA) Oct. 17 – 19. Local sketchers who do not have a USK group were thrilled that “Urban Sketchers came to us!” said Brenda Murray. About 22 sketchers participated in the event, and organizers hope to do it again next year.
Urban Sketchers Eskiltuna (Sweden) recently held its first exhibition. “We had about 250 visitors, which is really good, according to Konstfrämjandet, which organized the exhibition,” said Björn Fundberg.
Urban sketchers in New York . . . |
On Oct. 25 Urban Sketchers groups in New York (USA) (at left) and Caracas (Venezuela) (below) held a simultaneous sketch walk. “We sketched, tweeted, Facebooked and walked from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,” said Richard Alomar. “We were over 2,000 miles away, but it seemed, on the superimposed map, that we were on criss-crossed paths.” On the New York side, it was a multi-layered event with folks from NYC Urban Sketchers and Landscape Architects from the New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. eL Paper Magazine helped to organize the event.
The magazine Aviso, Kunst und Wissenschaft aus Bayern (art and science from Bavaria) has published an article about Urban Sketchers. Gabi Campanario, Miriam Ben Moussa and Omar Jaramillo contributed sketches and were quoted in the article, which is in German.
. . . and in Caracas sketch together at a simultaneous event. |
Urban sketchers in Munich just received great coverage on Isarblog. Since May the group has been gathering on the first Sunday of each month. “We sketch for a few hours and then go to a café to share our work and talk and continue sketching,” said Miriam Benmoussa. Sketchers are active on Facebook, and the group has just been approved to start a regional blog.
Urban Sketchers Chile will offer an Urban Sketchers workshop in the heritage district of Concha y Toro in downtown Santiago Nov. 8. “It will be a free event, open to all lovers of urban sketching, and will last the whole day,” said Erika Brandner. Event sponsors include the Municipality of Santiago, Heritage institutes and major art suppliers and brands in Chile.
Urban Sketchers Munich, gathering since May,
share their work on a cafe table. |
Urban Sketchers was mentioned in an article about the growing drawing scene in Singapore in the online publication AsiaOne.
Urban sketchers in Hawthorn (Australia) are getting ready for their exhibit, “Urban Sketching in Boroondara,” Nov. 4 – Dec. 6 at the Hawthorn Arts Centre’s Town Hall Gallery.
Hong Kong’s Occupy Central continues to gain sketching coverage in the Sketching Umbrella Movement community Facebook group page.
Urban Sketchers Philippines had a table at BGC Art Mart Sept. 27 to share their enthusiasm for sketching and Urban Sketchers with the larger community.
Urban Sketchers Hawthorn is excited about its exhibit in November. |
Sketchers in Action
Euromaxx produced a video program about the “Comeback of the Notebook” in the digital age with a focus on the popular notebook Moleskine, and Munich urban sketcher Florian Afflerbach is featured prominently sketching in his Moleskine. The English video appears on Deutsche Welle.
Jim Richards‘ book, Freehand Drawing and Discovery: Urban Sketching and Concept Drawing for Designers, has received a national Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). The awards honor top landscape architectural projects from across the U.S. and around the world. ASLA will present 34 professional awards selected from more than 600 entries.
And more news from Jim Richards: A solo exhibition of 16 watercolor sketches from a trip to Cuba in May is on display at the Arkansas State University’s Dean B. Ellis Library in Jonesboro, Arkansas (USA). Sponsored by the university’s Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum, the exhibition is titled “Hemingway’s Cuba,” capturing contemporary views of sites important in the Nobel Prize-winning writer’s life and work.
The work of Samantha Zaza, PeF, Maya Andersson, Frédéric Rudant, Christophe Pons and the Atelier multimédia Bellegarde is on exhibit through Dec. 30 at Carnets de Voyages in Toulouse (France). With the theme “The Orient,” the exhibit features sketches of Istanbul and the Occupy Gezi protests.
Gabi Campanario’s latest book |
Two eagerly awaited books have just begun shipping on Amazon.com: Gabi Campanario‘s The Urban Sketching Handbook: Architecture and Cityscapes (the first in a series) and Marc Taro Holmes‘ The Urban Sketcher: Techniques for Seeing and Drawing on Location.
Public Radio International produced a radio program and published an article about urban sketcher Richard Johnson, who is documenting the war in Afghanistan with sketches. Richard is on assignment for the Washington Post.
USk Germany correspondents Gisela Knuth and Miriam Benmoussa are exhibiting some of their Munich urban sketches at Café Weyerer in Munich through the end of the year.
Lydia Valarde’s article in Art Journaling. |
San Diego (USA) urban sketcher Lydia Velarde wrote an article in Art Journaling magazine’s autumn 2014 edition. Lydia said that all of the sketches in the six-page article were done while on outings with the San Diego Urban Sketchers meetup group. Lydia talks about how she uses her sketchbook almost like a daily journal and how the USk group has enriched her sketching life.
The New Straits Times just published an article Oct. 31 about Penang (Malaysia) artist and urban sketcher Ch’ng Kiah Kiean, who will be opening his ninth solo exhibition this month. Called Sketching Penang,” the exhibit will be at The Art Gallery at Belissa Row through Nov. 20.
The Quebec (Canada) Chronicle-Telegraph featured urban sketcher, artist and photojournalist Bethann Merkle in an article about her recent evening at the Morrin Centre introducing sketching to 20 enthusiasts and giving them a brief history of drawing. Bethann has been writing the “Drawn to Quebec” illustrated column in that newspaper since July.
Ch’ng Kiah Kiean will have his 9th solo exhibition in Penang. |
USk President Jason Das has been invited to attend and sketch the Creative Time Summit in Stockholm, Sweden Nov. 14 – 15. The Creative Time Summit is an annual event exploring “the many ways in which artists are tackling the world’s most challenging social and political issues.” Previously, Jason sketched all of the presenters on stage at the 2013 Summit in New York City. He is excited abouthis first trip to Sweden and hopes to connect with urban sketchers in Stockholm.
Ken Avidor sketches the paranormal! |
Just in time for Halloween, Ken and Roberta Avidor of Minneapolis (USA) have been sketching the paranormal!
Shout it Out in Drawing Attention!
Not seeing anything about you or your Urban Sketchers group in Drawing Attention? Then we want to hear from you! Please send your urban sketching news items with links and images to: drawingattention@urbansketchers.org. Or tag me, Tina Koyama, on news you post on the Urban Sketchers Facebook page. Subscribe by e-mail. Happy sketching!