USK NICE

Member Spotlight: Lewis Gutterman

A TRIBUTE BY CATHY GUTTERMAN

CATHY & LEWIS

It is with great sadness that I am writing this Spotlight. My dear husband Lewis Gutterman passed away unexpectedly in September in NYC, following complications from surgery. To anyone who knew him, Lewis was a memorably tall and blue-eyed man, of great warmth and gentleness. To me, he was a constant companion, friend, and beloved spouse of 34 years. As a dedicated member of the NYC Urban Sketchers, Lewis felt that it was important to welcome newcomers, publicize the group, and encourage membership, all of which he did with enthusiasm and a smile. He felt that it was important to document our events, so he took on the role of photographer as his personal responsibility. Being photographed by Lewis was a moment of realizing that friends were just as important as their art.

Lewis grew up in the Bronx. As a teenager, he moved to Westchester where he attended Woodlands High School. A gifted cook, he studied culinary arts but he never pursued it as a career. Instead he began working in his mother’s antique business in Nyack, NY, and that’s where he found his calling. His store was called Ere N Aft (for Before and After), which he developed it into a successful gift and collectibles business that thrived for more than 30 years. We met at Jack La Lanne’s back in the 1980s when it was it was a popular place to exercise and work out, and dated for four years before getting married. When we retired, we wanted to find activities we could enjoy together. Since we both had an interest in art and a love for the outdoors, we actively sought out ways to combine the two. We explored the Westchester parks and sought out local libraries for various art classes in pencil drawing, watercolor, and anatomy. Gradually, as we learned and our drawing skills developed, we began to experiment with various mediums. Like so many others, our stash of art supplies grew!

Lewis had an enduring interest in portraits and practiced doing them in his spare time. As a self-taught artist, he liked to work on subjects that posed a special challenge, such as women with long flowing hair, American Indians and actors from his favorite movies. Whenever he encountered an art teacher or artist who impressed and inspired him, he drew their portraits and presented them with the finished drawing. Lewis treasured the photos taken of himself beside the thrilled fellow artists holding their portraits.

In 2016, Lewis was fortunate to meet a special artist-in-residence at the New York Botanical Garden: Mark Leibowitz, one of the

SKETCHES BY LEWIS LEWIS BY MARK LEIBOWITZ

SKETCHERS WITH PORTRAITS DONE BY LEWIS

founders of the NYC chapter. When Mark showed Lewis the sketchbook he always carried, Lewis immediately knew that this was something he wanted to do – even though Mark told Lewis that he would have to do about 2,000 more drawings in order to catch up! Mark encouraged Lewis and me to come to a sketch event of the NYC Urban Sketchers at Astoria Park in Queens and after that first meeting, we were hooked. After joining the NYC USk group in 2017, we became active, with Lewis documenting events. After drawing Mark’s portrait, Lewis drew other fellow sketchers. With his tall stature and white pony nail, he became a popular subject, too. Lewis’ portraits were always done in graphite, as were his early urban sketches. When fellow sketchers encouraged him to add some color, he tried his hand at watercolor and ink. Recently he devised his own unique way of applying ink marks over watercolor washes. Incredible details and heightened color became recognized as Lewis’ inimitable style. Lewis was an avid sketcher who brought enthusiasm, a talented eye for art, and a joyful spirit to all that he did. As we remember his smile, the twinkle in his eye, and his gentle sense of humor, it’s hard to believe that such a vibrant, friendly and caring person is gone. He was central and dear to our NYC USk family and will be sorely missed. f

NEVER BORING: POLAND’S URBAN SKETCHING FESTIVAL

BY DORA PINDUR, USK POLAND

USk Poland received a USk Regional Event grant and recently presented its Urban Sketching Festival in the beautiful city of Świdnica. The festival lasted four days (11-14 August) with two exhibitions, four workshops, lectures, an art materials fair, mobile art equipment rental, testing of Aquarius watercolors at Roman Szmal’s stand, competitions, treasure hunt, and sketchwalks. No one was bored – but some complained about the excess of activities!

Participants came from Poland, all over Europe, and beyond, with some visiting Poland for the first time. In addition to focusing on sketching, the festival also became an opportunity to make many new contacts and acquaintances. It was also a promotion for both the city of Świdnica and our country. For some, this was their first time in Poland.

The organizers of the festival were the admins of USk Poland: Justyna Wojnowska, Dora Pindur and Kasia Kosiak, as well as Marta Ciućka from the Świdnica Cultural Center, who provided enormous logistical and artistic support. The sponsors gave many gifts to the festival participants, providing articles for goodie bags and competition prizes. Our special guest was Mohan Banerji from USk Executive Board, who gave a lecture on his sketching experience and a live broadcast with us. Another, longer live event on Instagram was hosted by our friend based in Toronto, Marek Badzynski, together with a renowned Polish painter Krzysztof Ludwin, who was with us in Świdnica. They did a great show, sketching the Church of Peace together and telling the viewers (in Polish and English) about its history, the festival and many other things. We would like to thank all the participants for coming to Świdnica and taking part in our festival – without them the event wouldn’t have happened. Check out these two videos made by our volunteer filmmaker Tomasz Kowal from Koval Sketchbooks.

Creating mixed media cityscapes with Maru Godas

BY JANE WINGFIELD

It was 4 am on a Thursday morning and I was in Brooklyn, NY, suffering from jetlag so I checked my emails. To my delight there was an email from NYC urban sketchers offering more spaces on an afternoon workshop with Maru Godas for the following Saturday. She had stopped in New York City on her way back from Madeline Island, Wisconsin, and there were plenty of sketchers eager to glean a few tips on painting with gouache and mixed media.

We met on a clear-blue-skied September day at the Hans Christian Anderson statue next to the model boat pond in Central Park. The park was bustling as usual, a bubble machine offering passers-by the opportunity to blow giant bubbles. The next three hours were packed with demos and exercises following Maru’s fanciful style. With Maru’s generously lent tubes of gouache, colored pencils and Neo Color, we practiced mixing and texture-making, then tried a few small paintings before finally tackling a larger one for our final exercise.

Maru’s charm and whimsical personality – so evident in her stylized paintings – made it easier to attempt to break free from structured norms. Free forms, texture and non-local color were the most challenging. It was a delightful way to spend the afternoon and I plan to incorporate some of what I learned into my own sketches as soon as I get back to my gouache tubes.

JANE’S CAROUSSEL MARU IN ACTION SHARE YOUR CHAPTER’S NEWS We love to hear about your chapter’s news, special events, joint meetups, and exhibitions with our readers. Contact us at: drawingattention@urbansketchers.org.

USk Languedoc-Roussillon organised an event with other regional groups, including USk Marseille & USk Nice (22-23 Oct). This was the first time they combined chapters to host an event. They chose Avignon for its central location in the south of France, and it was a great success.

GENINE CARVALHEIRA IN SEPTEMBER OUR EXECUTIVE BOARD HAD ITS FIRST IN-PERSON STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING SINCE 2019 IN GUADALAJARA, MEXICO, HOSTED BY THE WONDERFUL USK GUADALAJARA.

THE PURPOSE WAS TO TAKE STOCK ON WHERE THE ORGANIZATION IS, REVIEW OUR CURRENT STRATEGIC PLAN, AND BRAINSTORM AND PLAN FOR THE FUTURE OF USK.

USK STRATEGIC PLANNING IN GUADALAJARA

BY GENINE CARVALHEIRA, PRESIDENT, URBAN SKETCHERS

We had been working with USk Guadalajara admins for more than six months to organize the five-day event. Our program consisted of three days of intense strategic planning meetings and two days of providing free community events. Team USk Guadalajara was incredible and together we organized three free workshops presented by members of the Executive Board for the community, and held an in-depth lecture about the organization and its committees. We shared our personal Urban Sketchers journeys and hosted a town hall Q&A. It was such a pleasure to meet everyone and we are so grateful for the warm welcome. Here are some insights from the meeting:

Our Highlights from 2021 / 2022

• We created the new USk website. This new platform can grow with us and allow for continuous improvements along the way. • We created the USk Regional Event Grant as a way to make USk events more accessible to sketchers all over the world and help Chapters grow and learn. A total of USD $10,000 was equally distributed to five Chapters. In addition to the monetary support, the directors of our committees worked with each Chapter as needed. For example, Sponsorship helped to connect Chapters with Sponsors; Education helped advise on some of the educational programming where requested; and Social Media supported with advertising and highlighting the event. • The Reportage Grant was created and five grants were distributed. The program was designed to highlight the best examples of drawing reportage in our community and inspire a new generation of artist reporters. • We have created a proposal framework for new programs to improve structured planning and the effectiveness of the EB. The framework will allow the EB to evaluate and discuss potential new programs, ensuring they align with our vision and values, financial feasibility and organizational goals. • We created a Strategic Planning Calendar, so the EB can understand the organization’s yearly commitments and resources. We want to be more mindful of our volunteers’ time and energy.

Get involved

WITH FELLOW BOARD MEMBER ERIC NGAN Our in-person strategic meetings occur once a year, with virtual meetings quarterly and monthly to review progress, and run day-to-day activities of the organizations. We all work in between these meetings to accomplish our individual tasks and help run the organization smoothly.

If this sounds interesting to you and you want to volunteer with our great organization, please write to volunteer@urbansketchers.org. Can’t wait to hear from you!

Strategic Planning Priorities for 2023

• Outreach: We are focusing on growing our amazing community and reaching out to our under-served communities. We want to continue giving back, providing educational opportunities and building partnerships. • Financial stability / partnerships and connections: We will be looking to find additional sources of sustainable funding that match our organizational goals so that we are able to fund even more grants, events and outreach programs for our communities. • Volunteer development and appreciation: We want to create a better and more intentional appreciation program for our amazing volunteers. We are also focusing on long-term stability of the organization through creating succession planning and building learning pathways for various committees, board positions, symposium hosts, coordinators, etc. • Online community / content / education: We are asking ourselves, what could the USk online educational content look like in the future and how could it can serve the USk community better while staying aligned to our vision and values. USK HOME

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USK INSTAGRAM

RECOVERING THE HISTORY OF THE CARTHUSIAN ORDER IN CASTELLÓN

What better way to recover our heritage than by drawing it? This summer in Castellón we were able to learn a little more about our historical legacy by drawing in the Valldecrist Charterhouse in Altura, an ancient monastery of the Carthusian order. This was organized by the Valldecrist Carthusian Association with a workshop given by the renowned sketcher Santi Sallés. More than 25 artists from the nearest sketchers groups (USK Castelló, USK València and USK Maestrat) gathered to capture the history with their sketches. With Santi Sallés, we learned tips from an experienced artist who has had many years of traveling around the world. His color compositions, lines, and techniques inspired us. Sallés also gave a practical workshop with exercises taking advantage of our wonderful environment, guiding and commenting on our drawings.

THANKS TO OLGA

The DA Content Team would like to sincerely thank Olga Surmacheva for all her hard work keeping the administrative side of the Drawing Attention ‘ship’ steaming smoothly ahead. We greatly appreciated her fun approach and excellent organizational skills – and the fact that she is a whiz with that sometimes tricky beast, Google Drive.

In tandem with her able volunteering for us over the past few years, she has been developing an innovative equine-themed start-up with some fellow creatives. This came to fruition recently, and you can check it out here. We wish her all the best for her future projects.

SEEKING WRITERS

Do you have a genuine interest in other sketchers, their work and processes? Do you enjoy words and writing in an easy, accessible style? We are looking for some more writers to come onboard with us for the four issues of Drawing Attention that we will publish in 2023. Please send a couple of samples of your written work to Jane at: drawingattention@urbansketchers.org.