Day Report August 22

by Roger Klaassen

Today I started at the Info Desk. I appreciate the volunteers who run it… there are busy moments, but also very quiet hours. But they are there when we need them. At the Info Desk you can also find all kinds of stamps – go there to add stamps from different Polish groups to your stamp collection.

I really enjoyed Rita Sabler’s lecture ‘When photography falls short’. She told us great stories about her projects and how a sketch pad and a pencil helps to establish contacts with other people. Inspiring!

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Dan Archer’s workshop ‘The word in the street’ also was about capturing stories on paper. I was there during the first part of the workshop, when Dan talked mostly about technical details. Later on – unfortunately, I wasn’t there anymore – he and his participants brought the instructions into practice when they visited a bookbinder’s shop. That must have been an adventure!

I went to my second workshop of the day, Farah Iran’s ‘Sketching through the lens of coloured paper’. It took me an hour to find the group, because they had moved to an ‘unknown’ location – it is appropriate that the ‘Lost & Found’ section of the Info Desk could give me the good directions. Anyway, I found them. The group had prepared their coloured papers with stencilled texts and patterns, and were drawing over that groundwork. I tried to catch up, but at the throw down it was clearly visible that I missed a part. But still, I hope my sketch will inspire you to try out coloured paper in your drawings.

A sketch of the Old Brewery. You might notice there are no sketchers on this drawing. I had a little moment of free time, waiting for the afternoon workshops. And free time or not, I draw.

I had a lot of fun with Peter Rush’s ‘Boxes of Energy’ workshop. Peter likes messy places and he gave the proof of it when he hugged a dirty lamppost. Need I say more? Better not, I think.

I rushed to Olivia Marcus’ ‘People Everywhere’ workshop. These days in Poznań it is ‘Sketchers everywhere’. I had to hurry my sketch a bit because of the Sketchwalk group that was leaving, so I kept to the basics of Olivia’s workshop.

This is the view on the city hall from the Castle, the endpoint of the Sketchwalk. I was hungry, cold and tired. A Polish snack and a warm hotel bed will solve my problems. See you tomorrow!