NEWS & EVENTS

PATRICK NG ERIC NGAN KRIS MORDECAI

COLORFUL CORES WORTH WAITING FOR

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WELCOMING NEW EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS With much excitement, we welcome Singapore resident Patrick Ng as VicePresident of Urban Sketchers starting on 1 January 2022. Patrick is a veteran Urban Sketcher, a long-time community builder, and ink and watercolor artist. We look forward to seeing how the new Executive Board members steer the organization.

We welcome our new Events Director, all the way from New Zealand – Eric Ngan! Eric brings an unmatched enthusiasm for community focus. As a professional events organizer, Eric combines his practiced professional skills with a love of urban sketching and a community-based focus, which will be the fuel that propels community events globally.

We welcome Kris Mordecai from the USA as the USk Treasurer starting on 1 Jan 2022. As a member of the Finance Committee, Kris has worked closely with Gail Wong, our outgoing Treasurer and USk veteran over the past few years, and has spearheaded the annual year-end fundraising drive. It gives us great joy to promote from within and bring on new members in leadership roles.

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CONNECTING OUR COMMUNITY THROUGH REGIONAL EVENTS – NEW REGIONAL GRANTS PROGRAM

Urban Sketchers is excited to announce the launch of the USk Regional Events Grant Program. Through this grant, Urban Sketchers will assist USk Chapters in hosting events that are bigger than their regular chapter sketch outings, with help on guidance and mentorship from the Events, Membership, Education and Sponsorship committees; supporting your team and connecting other chapters or USk partners to your event, and providing a monetary grant.

The Program will provide a regional chapter team with up to USD $2,000 to promote urban sketching to your chapter and connect the community of sketchers around your location. Proposals will be accepted up to December 31st, 2021. Read more about this program here.

UPDATE FROM GENINE CARVALHEIRA USK VICE PRESIDENT DRAWING ATTENTION READERSHIP SURVEY

ABIG thank you to the 197 people who took part in our Drawing Attention survey! Your feedback has given us insights into what you want to see, how often you want to see it and what areas we can improve on. Here are a few highlights.

You told us that Drawing Attention makes you feel connected with other sketchers around the world, inspires you in your own sketching, and keeps you informed about USk as an organization. As well as our dynamic stories from all over the world, we started running personal updates from our Executive Board members a while back and are continuing to do this.

There is a strong appetite for Sketcher Spotlights, USk News and Chapter Features, and we hope to bring you more of what you have asked for – urban sketching book and gear reviews – in future issues. It’s clear that DA is a strong prompt for action: you visited the USk website (49%); recommended USk to a friend (44%); attended an event (19%); volunteered (10%), and started a chapter (10%) after reading.

You’ll see from this issue that the Executive Board along with the Drawing Attention team have already begun responding to some of your feedback. Demos and ‘how to’ features came out on top of the list of what you’d like to see, so we are pleased to bring you our first ever step-by-step demo, care of Atlanta sketcher Jim Chapman, and a story showing you how to sketch using curvilinear perspective.

We will continue to work over the course of the year reflecting on the survey results to help shape Drawing Attention content and delivery. Feel free to contact the DA team at any time. • How often do you read DA? Every month / issue 52% Most of the time 16% Half the time/ seldom / never 32%

• What does DA do for you? Makes me feel connected with other sketchers around the world 82.65% Inspires me to try new things in my sketching 64.29% Gives me insight to the USk Organization 59.69% Serves as an information source for education 47.96% Encourages me to support USK financially 11.22% Makes me want to volunteer 9.69%

HAPPY SKETCHERS IN THE SWISS CAPITAL BY CHRISTIAN BÜHLER

The 3rd Swiss Urban Sketchers Symposium took place in Bern from 9-11 September 2021. Bern, with its picturesque old town, beautiful views, miles of arcades, small alleyways, historical buildings and figure fountains, was the perfect place to go out sketching. Close to 150 participants attended workshops given by 14 instructors on a wide range of topics and techniques. There was a distinctly international feel with many instructors and participants coming from outside Switzerland, mainly from Germany but also some other European countries.

The organizers took a risk by planning such an event during a pandemic – luckily there was a relative lull when the Symposium took place. Of course the familiar Covid precautions were adhered to throughout the event and no problems were reported. There were happy faces all around and the feedback was enthusiastic.We are now looking forward to next year’s Symposium, which will take place in Basel.

ABOVE RIGHT: SKETCH BY KATHRIN PORTMANN

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SKETCH BY RACHAEL FOSTER

SKETCH BY JACKY ELMS

‘Come and sketch our slice of paradise’

THIS WAS THE INVITATION TO URBAN SKETCHERS FOR THE INAUGURAL PORT DOUGLAS TROPICAL SKETCHFEST HELD IN PORT DOUGLAS AND MOSSMAN, FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND, A UNIQUE AREA AT THE INTERSECTION OF TWO WORLD HERITAGE AREAS. BY GAIL SHAW, EVENT CURATOR

Hosted by Urban Sketchers Port Douglas/Mossman, the Tropical Sketchfest (8-11 October) attracted many local members as well as sketchers from across the Daintree River, Townsville, Cairns, and the Atherton Tablelands. It was a perfect weekend all round in this sublime location.

Port Douglas and Mossman are located 16 degrees below the Equator, and this is the only part of the world where two world heritage areas meet: the Great Barrier Reef and the world’s oldest rainforest, the Daintree. We are very fortunate that, due to our remote location, our sketching program has not been interrupted by the Covid 19 pandemic, but vigilance prevailed and Queensland Health Covid-safe plans were in place throughout.

Sketchfest began with a meet-and-greet evening at the Port Douglas Community Centre, and was officially opened by Nexus Arts president and former Douglas Shire Mayor

SKETCH BY JACKY ELMS

SKETCHFEST ‘THROWDOWN’ & SUNDAY BARBECUE AT REX SMEAL PARK

LEFT: ON THE WAY TO LUNCH AND SKETCHING AT MOSSMAN GORGE

Ms Julia Leu. On Saturday sketchers visited the famous old cane town of Mossman, with its century-old mill and vibrant Saturday morning market. The local Douglas Arts Base hosted a beautiful morning tea. Lunch was at Mossman Gorge, on the magnificent Mossman River. The Mossman Gorge Centre is the gateway to the valley, a key tourist attraction with a suspension bridge giving access to a 2.4km loop walk through the National Park’s rainforest. It is part of the traditional homeland of the indigenous Kuku Yalanji people (Goo-goo Ya-lan-gee). There was also swimming in the pristine waters of Mossman River, widely considered the best swimming hole in Australia. On Sunday we started at the famous Port Douglas markets, where sketchers were able to choose from a gorgeous range of subjects including the historic Sugar Wharf (pictured above), the beautiful wooden historic church St Mary’s by the Sea, the old Court House and the busy marina. In the afternoon, sketchers enjoyed a barbecue and then the ritual “throwdown”. We hope in future years we’ll be able to invite sketchers from all over the world to come sketch with us in our little slice of paradise in tropical Far North Queensland.

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