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NEWS & EVENTS
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UPDATE FROM GENINE CARVALHEIRA USK VICE PRESIDENT
READERSHIP SURVEY Urban Sketchers is looking to improve Drawing Attention and we would love to hear from you. We have created a short survey in the hope of better understanding what our community is most interested in and what we can do better.
The survey should only take you approximately two minutes and can be accessed here. Thank you in advance for your time and we look forward to hearing from you!
SUBSCRIBE TO DRAWING ATTENTION – IT’S FREE
UPDATE FROM UMA KELKAR USK SECRETARY
The Executive Board compiles an Annual Report which presents the highlights and strategic movement of our grassroots organization. You can read the 2020 Report which documents our experience in the first year of the Pandemic, as well as the 2019 Report which records the last time we had a Symposium. Our Annual Reports tabulate the job done by various chapters and committees, and also give a ‘health of the organization’ snapshot. What would you like to see in the Annual Report that would help you grow the footprint of Urban Sketchers? Let us know, we are listening.
WELCOME NEW CHAPTERS!
We are excited to announce that 11 new chapters were approved in July from six countries. This brings our Official Chapter count to 337 Chapters worldwide. You can read about USk Daegu, South Korea (above) on page 14. Please also welcome:
USk Marseille, France USk Angers, France USk Rouen, France USk Clermont-Ferrand, France USk Terrassa, Spain USk Cantabria, Spain USk Belém, Brazil USk Tucson, USA USk Dubuque, Iowa, USA USk London, Ontario, Canada
SHARE YOUR CHAPTER’S NEWS WITH OUR READERS
We are always interested to hear what’s going on in your chapterContact us to share your chapter’s news, special events, joint meetups, and exhibitions with our readers. You don’t need to write the story yourself – we will assign a Drawing Attention writer. Contact us at: drawingattention@urbansketchers.org
UPDATE FROM MOHAN BANERJI SPONSORSHIP DIRECTOR
SPONSORS SUPPORT COMMUNITY GRANT WORKSHOP The USk Reading chapter in England, working with Jelly (a charity championing the creative arts), held the first of two workshops (July & Sept) under the guidance of Isabel Carmona. This was aimed at introducing the joys of sketching to the broader Reading community. Participants included members of The Engine Room (an arts and mental health project) and Mother Tongue (women who have English as a second language). Derwent and Seawhite of Brighton provided support with generous donations of all the art materials.
SPONSORS JOIN USK ON SOCIAL MEDIA Da Vinci (July) and Strathmore (August) were among the first sponsors to partner USk in promoting products on Instagram, with Derwent participating this month. Check out their promotion as a number of their Line and Wash Paint Pan Sets, perfect for on location sketching, are there to be won!
2022 REGIONAL EVENTS The pandemic is still impacting travel (flights, hotels, visas, vaccination certificates, etc). However, if you are planning events for 2022, send details to sponsorship@urbansketchers. org and the Sponsorship team of Raylie, Alvin and I will do our best to get you some support.
USK INSTAGRAM
“If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces.” Shane Koyczan
usk news
AL FRESCO: A CHRONICLE OF USK SEVILLA IN TIMES OF COVID
BY USK SEVILLA, SPAIN
After more than a year without being able to meet to draw due to the global pandemic, our local group Usk Sevilla has been able to start its urban sketching activities again with summer night meetings, called ‘AL FRESCO’. These are two-hour meetings, which always take place on weekdays. They are held at night (from 8-11pm), because in the summer months, Sevillians try to avoid the intense heat, starting to draw when the sun begins to set. The sketchers are invited to contribute sketches for the posters for each event.
Al fresco meetings end with sharing all the sketches and taking the group picture. Then we enjoy a summer Drink & Draw, where the anecdotes of the day are shared, there’s a lot of conversation about urban sketching, drawing materials..... and more sketching!
The response to this activity has been incredible: a new wave of urban sketchers are joining these summer drawing meetings and, despite the intense heat, the sketchers have not stopped going to these night time appointments. There is enormous enthusiasm for sharing, learning and renewing the bond and passion for drawing in situ. Optimism and excitement have outweighed the long time of isolation and inactivity. We want to encourage you to go out and sketch, but always safely. All our activities have been carried out under strict measures to prevent COVID-19 because, although most of us are vaccinated, we cannot let down our guard – we want safe meetings. We always draw in open spaces where it is possible to maintain safe distances and we comply with all preventive measures established by the health authority at all times. See you drawing in the cool!
JORNADAS AL FRESCO
URBANSKETCHERS EN TIEMPOS DEL COVID, USK SEVILLA, ESPAÑA
Trás más de una año sin poder reunirnos a dibujar por motivos de la pandemia mundial que nos azota, el grupo Usk Sevilla (Sevilla, España), ha podido iniciar de nuevo su andadura con los encuentros nocturnos veraniegos: ‘JORNADAS AL FRESCO’.
Se trata de jornadas de 2 h, que tienen lugar siempre entre semana. Su horario es nocturno (20-22 h p.m.), porque en Sevilla durante los meses de verano tratamos de eludir su intenso calor, quedando a dibujar cuando empieza a esconderse el sol.
Esta actividad cuenta además con la colaboración abierta de los dibujantes del grupo, a los que se invita a participar con sus dibujos en el diseño de los carteles para cada evento.
La jornada “Al fresco” finaliza con la puesta en común de los dibujos y la foto de grupo, tras lo cual y como es costumbre, disfrutamos de un veraniego Drink & Draw, donde se comparten las anécdotas de la jornada, mucha conversación sobre dibujos, materiales,…., y más dibujos. La respuesta a esta actividad ha sido increíble, una nueva ola de dibujantes se están uniendo a estos encuentros de dibujo veraniego, y a pesar del intenso calor, los dibujantes no han dejado de acudir a estas citas nocturnas. Hay una enorme ilusión por compartir, aprender y renovar el vínculo y la pasión por el dibujo in situ.
El optimismo y alegría, han ganado la partida a la distancia y el tiempo sin actividad. Os animamos igualmente a salir y dibujar, pero siempre seguros. Todas las actividades se han realizado bajo condiciones de prevención contra el COVID-19, porque, aunque la mayoría nos encontramos vacunados, no bajamos la guardia, queremos jornadas seguras. Dibujamos siempre en espacios abiertos donde sea posible mantener las distancias de seguridad y cumplimos con todas las medidas preventivas establecidas por la autoridad sanitaria en cada momento! Nos vemos dibujando al fresquito!
usk news
BY VANESSA LEUNG, USK HONG KONG CHAPTER LEADER
Everywhere was in a lockdown in 2020 and USk Hong Kong was not able to organise any official events. Some sketchers gathered in small groups to sketch, I was sketching a lot of food.
I decided that I need to get back on track to do more urban sketching despite all those lockdown and gathering restrictions. So in December 2020, I contacted another urban sketcher, Ruf, who works in the Wanchai area where I also work. Wanchai is an area with a mix of commercial and residential, old and new – there is a lot to sketch.
Ruf and I started regular weekday lunchtime sketch sessions. We skipped lunch every Wednesday to sketch in different Wanchai locations. We sketched fast, as both of us needed to rush back to work. Since then, we have gathered a few more local sketchers. As Wanchai is very busy during lunch hour, there are times where we were caught by passersby who were interested in joining. Sometimes we got messages from others who saw our regular Wednesday lunch sketches on social media asking to join as well. Eventually, from a group of two people, we have grown to over 20 sketchers. Every Wednesday you will see at least a dozen keen sketchers gathered somewhere in Wanchai. And we haven’t skipped any Wednesdays, despte heat and rain. One day I had the idea it would be meaningful to find a place in Wanchai to exhibit our sketches and photos with how we sketched together in this busy neighborhood. The lunch group was so enthusiastic that we soon found two locations willing to sponsor the exhibition. We also came up with the exhibition title Wanchai FAST sketchers. There’s a double meaning on the word FAST: we fast our stomach to sketch and we have to sketch fast to go back to work! The exhibition was first set up in Artland Gallery then moved to A Link Gallery. We have exhibited a total of 40 selected sketches done by 14 sketchers.
I wanted to share this story to inspire you – you can start with a small group in your own area, and grow from there. Even if you skip just one lunch time it’s good enough, you have no excuse to say that you have no time to sketch! This is such a fun-filled experience.
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” Maya Angelou
由於新冠病毒疫情影響，香港自 2020年頭已有一系列措施限制群 組聚集。「速寫香港」因此亦無法 組織任何官方速寫活動。我們亦 只可以小組私下相約進行速寫。正 因如此，兩位灣仔區工作的速寫 愛好者感覺儘管有限聚，亦希望 能盡量保持對城市速寫的熱誠。 自2020年尾起，他們決定於每星 期繁忙的工作中抽空放鬆一下，相 約每周三午飯時間快閃地速寫灣 仔其中一些角落。 灣仔區正是一個商住混雜、新舊 交融的地區，有很多值得勾畫的地 方。短短數月由「小貓兩隻」，變成 十多個有速寫經驗的業餘畫家 及 午飯途經便決定加入的新鮮人組 成這「餓底速寫團」，名乎其實餓 住肚子也要畫！他們風雨不改、日 曬雨淋地把灣仔不同的角落記錄 在畫筆下。 不經不覺這個灣仔區「餓底速寫 團」已經每周在灣仔區速寫了超 過半年，他們認為若能於灣仔區 作一個展覽，給居住這區或經常 出入這區的人參觀，將會是很有 意義。很快地，這班「餓底速寫 團」亦找到兩處灣仔的展覽場地 贊助，讓這班抵著飢餓也要畫畫 的熱血餓底畫家們展示他們筆下 千姿百態的灣仔。 這是一個非常鼓舞人心的速寫故 事，其實只要有興趣，任何人也 可以先在一個自己熟識的地方開 始，哪怕只是抽出一個午餐時間 來畫一下你的周邊的環境，慢慢 地你會驚訝原來坐在繁忙的街道 上，你也可以找到志趣相投的人加 入。這是一次充滿樂趣的體驗。
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR INSTAGRAM POSTS
UPDATE FROM NOGA GROSMAN, SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR, & THE USK INSTAGRAM TEAM
The USk Social Media team is a group of volunteers from around the world who offer their skills, time and devotion to connect and engage with the Urban Sketchers global community via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. We share USk news and updates on the feed and promote a variety of programs, created to inspire and empower sketchers. Sometimes we send a call to action to our members, inviting you to engage and connect with other urban sketchers enthusiasts. Over the next few issues of Drawing Attention, we’ll be giving you updates and social media tips to improve our community’s online communication.
TOP TIPS ON POSTING Some locations around the world are opening up again, so we can share the joy by posting and reposting sketches. But what’s the best way to boost the visibility of our sketch posts and maybe even get featured on the USk IG feed?:
• MAKE SURE YOUR SKETCH IS WELL-LIT IN A FULL-FRAME PHOTO. • ADD A SECOND IMAGE WITH YOUR SUBJECT MATTER BEHIND YOUR
SKETCH (SEE RIGHT), SO IT’S CLEAR IT WAS DONE ON LOCATION. • UPLOAD YOUR URBAN SKETCH IMAGE(S) ON YOUR INSTA FEED • TAG YOUR SKETCH WITH THE #URBANSKETCHERS HASHTAG • ADD VALUE BY SHARING THE STORY OF SKETCH IE. HOW IT WAS ON
THE DAY, THE REASON YOU WENT THERE – SOMETHING PERSONAL
CONNECTS WITH VIEWERS (SEE RIGHT). • ADD THE NAME OF THE CITY, COUNTRY & LOCATION. • REMEMBER, THE USK IG TEAM IS REPOSTING ONLY SKETCHES POSTED
DIRECTLY ON THE ARTIST PAGE. WE DO NOT REPOST SKETCHES
FOUND ON A THIRD-PARTY FEED.
There are too many fantastic sketches for us to repost every day. We can’t repost everything on the USk feed, but everyone can search and follow #urbansketchers! Next time, we’ll focus on social media engagement with USk Chapters.
