[By Gail Wong, Gabi Campanario and Virginia Hein] This past weekend, over 150 urban sketchers converged on downtown Tacoma, Washington for the 4th Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawl. Sketchers came from up and down the west coast of the US–from California to Canada, and several from Arizona! Local organizers Frances Buckmaster, Kate Buike and the whole volunteer team did a magnificent job of making this a wonderful experience from start to finish for all of us who came.
Here are sketches and reflections by Gail Wong, Gabi Campanario and Virginia Hein…
By Gail Wong:
Sketchers just can’t get enough of it! Though we just got back from the symposium less that three weeks ago. The 4th Annual Sketchcrawl was another opportunity to sketch together. For me it was an easy 30 minutes from Seattle, and to my surprise there were several sketchers from different states who came to this sketch crawl who had also just come back from the Manchester Symposium. We just can’t get enough of a good thing! To my happy surprise Virginia came all the way up from Los Angeles, CA. I was glad for the opportunity to see her since she missed the symposium. These regional events give us another great opportunity to meet up with sketchers from your own part of the world.
On Saturday I sketched this panoramic view of the Washington State Historical Museum and Union Station. Sunday I found this view of the newly constructed pedestrian street going through the UW campus in Tacoma.
By Gabi Campanario:
I had a lovely time sketching alongside Virginia. We found a great intersection with plenty of sketch-worthy architecture around us in the Theater District. Of all the choices, this wedge-shaped building caught our eye right away. With a cafe at street level and what I assume may be apartments above, it reminded me of the type of residential architecture you find in city centers across Europe.
By Virginia Hein:
It was really exciting to discover Tacoma, a city on the rise with a mix of old and new architecture. Our sketch crawl started near the spectacular Bridge of Glass, featuring the work of Tacoma native Dale Chihuly, so many of us began there…I loved the tree-like Crystal Towers, and the view of the new Washington State History Museum echoing the style of the old Union Station.
At one end of the Bridge the “Hot Shop” cone rises from the top of the Museum of Glass.
I had a wonderful time sketching with Gabi on our final Sunday sketch crawl–we both were struck by this quirky wedge-shaped building dating back to the early 1900’s…
There’s nothing quite so much fun as exploring a new city with a sketchbook, except perhaps connecting with the Urban Sketchers community–seeing old friends and making new ones!
Thank you, Tacoma!
#usktac4