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USK BRISBANE
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Heritage Connections
A CHANCE MENTION OF URBAN SKETCHING DURING AN ONLINE WORKSHOP LED TO THE CREATION OF A SIGNIFICANT EVENT FOR HISTORIC MARYBOROUGH, ON AUSTRALIA’S NORTH EAST COAST.
WORDS: PETER RICHARDS PHOTOS: CODY FOX
FIRST THROW DOWN, MARYBOROUGH URBAN SKETCHING WEEKEND
Peter is an active member of Urban Sketchers Brisbane and was one of the initiators and organisers of the Brisbane Sketchfest in 2019. He is also a member of the Urban Sketchers Education Committee and, when not sketching, is a practicing architect, and teacher at the Queensland University of Technology.
I’d been talking about drawing and design with the heritage architect of a local council who is based in Maryborough, about four hours north of Brisbane.
Maryborough is a significant heritage city that I know quite well. Located on the Mary River, this European settlement was established in the midnineteenth century, becoming one of the main ports for immigrants into Queensland. It had rural industries of sugar and timber, and a manufacturing base for shipping and trains. Maryborough is also the birthplace of Pamela Lyndon Travers, who wrote the famous Mary Poppins books.
There are many significant civic buildings designed by well-known architects of the day and many other historic and intact heritage buildings. I suggested members of Urban Sketchers Brisbane might be interested in sketching in Maryborough for a weekend. The heritage architect gave me the names of the right people in Council to talk to.
An early visit to the city to discuss the opportunity showed that the Fraser Coast Council had a significant interest and support for the arts, and great local galleries, but no urban sketching group. There was the annual heritage festival in the town in May and Council was very keen to make the sketching weekend a key activity in the program. A free event was settled on with Sketch Walks and a Pecha Kucha (or Skit Sketch) style
talk event featuring four local and four visiting speakers. The weekend would finish with a popup exhibition of the sketches produced, hung in the basement of an historic building near the river. Urban Sketchers Brisbane was equally enthusiastic.
The Maryborough Urban Sketching Weekend happened in the long weekend in early May. Over 50 sketchers attended the weekend; more than half were locals. Over one hundred works were displayed with more than 500 visiting the exhibition, which was up for three weeks. It was a remarkable and inspiring experience.
The event could have been a nice (self-indulgent) sketching holiday for urban sketchers from Brisbane with no
TREVOR SPOOR SKETCHING IN MARYBOROUGH
engagement with the community but I felt that the connection of Brisbane Urban Sketchers with the local Council and community in partnership was so important. We were able to share the joy and power of urban sketching as outreach to a community with a strong interest in the arts. The event also provided richer insights into the city for the sketching visitors and a more significant connection to people and place.
Council is keen for the event to happen again, and it has even encouraged locals to set up a local chapter!
SKETCH BY APRIL SPADINA
QUEENS PARK ROTUNDA, COURTHOUSE AND CUSTOMS HOUSE BY PETER RICHARDS
TONY WALKER & FRIEND ON LOCATION IN MARYBOROUGH
“The event could have been a nice (self-indulgent) sketching holiday for urban sketchers from Brisbane... but ... the connection of Brisbane Urban
Sketchers with the local Council and community in partnership was so important.”
PETER’S TIPS FOR ORGANISING A HERITAGE WEEKEND
“WE DIDN’T RUN WORKSHOPS, WHICH MADE THE COSTS LESS AND THE EVENT MUCH EASIER TO ORGANISE. THE BUDGET FOR THE ENTIRE PROJECT WAS THE COST OF THE PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE PAID BY USK BRISBANE.
WORKSHOPS WOULD HAVE IMPROVED THE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE, BUT THE EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE EXPERIENCED SKETCHERS AND THE LOCALS WAS GREAT.
THE COUNCIL WAS VERY KEEN, AND THEY HELPED DRIVE THE EVENT – IT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT THEIR SUPPORT AND STAFF RESOURCES. THEY ORGANISED THE TICKETING, VENUE FOR THE TALKS AND EXHIBITION. THEY HUNG THE EXHIBITION AND TOOK IT DOWN, ORGANISED DRINKS AND GOT THE MAYOR TO OPEN IT. I DID ALL THE GRAPHICS, DESIGNED THE LOGO AND CURATED AND COMPILED ALL THE PECHA KUCHA TALKS. I FINALISED THE SKETCHWALKS WITH THEM DURING A SITE VISIT A FEW MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT. THIS WAS INVALUABLE.
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