DRAWING
Attention
The official zine of Urban Sketchers MARCH 2019
Drawing Attention Mandate Drawing Attention, the official monthly zine of the Urban Sketchers organization, communicates and promotes official USk workshops, symposiums, sketchcrawls, news and events; shares news about USk chapters; and educates readers about the practice of on-location sketching. Thanks to this month’s Drawing Attention contributors: Managing Editor: Patricia Chow Editorial Assistant: Pedro Loureiro Mailchimp layout: Jane Wingfield Issuu layout: Anne Taylor Social Media Designer: Carrie Alyson Hirsch Writers: Leslie Akchurin, Meagan Burns, Pedro Loureiro, Brenda Murray, Susan Rogers, Ann Schwartzwald. Proofreaders: Leslie Akchurin; Ann Schwartzwald. Contributors: Parka; Amber Sausen cover image: Isabel Carmona Subscribe to Drawing Attention. Read the February edition of Drawing Attention. Circulation: 11k+ Readership: 16k+ Web: urbansketchers.org Urban Sketchers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing. Click here to make your tax-deductible contribution via Paypal. © 2019 Urban Sketchers.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear Urban Sketchers, I recently attended an event where a politician announced their candidacy for president of the United States. The energy! The crowds! In the midst of a snowstorm, people arrived by skis, sleds, and snow boots, wearing hats, mittens and snow pants to ward off the cold as we gathered in a city park. What made my experience different from that of thousands of others there that day? I sketched. I closely observed my surroundings and put them on the page. I paused my sketching to blow snowflakes off my pages and to engage with everyone around me – passively through observing them and actively through our shared smiles and excitement at witnessing history in the making.
Sketching creates powerful memories. Did you know that sketching and doodling can lead to a 29% increase in memory recall?! This is the power of Urban Sketchers and the act of urban sketching – we create memories for ourselves and allow others to see our world, one sketch at a time. Where you’re capturing an historic moment, civic activism, local traditions, an orderly protest, traveling, daily life, or the places we live – the connections, friendship, understanding, and documentation we’re creating for future generations is an amazing thing. Happy sketching! Amber Sausen, USk President
MANAGING EDITOR’S MESSAGE This month we visit USk chapters in Calgary and Gran Canaria, and hear from USk Hanoi and the other Asian chapters who participated in the Da Lat Sketchwalk. We also catch up with our popular instructors Isabel Carmona, Mikael Jacobsson and Suhita Shirodkar.
A warm thank you to our 16k+ readers, and to our Drawing Attention writers, designers, and proofreaders, and the USk social media and tech teams for all of their hard work this month and every month. Enjoy our latest issue! Patricia Chow, Drawing Attention Managing Editor drawingattention@urbansketchers.org
CONTENTS 16
28
USK CALGARY
ISABEL CARMONA
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22
34
USK GRAN CANARIA
MIKAEL JACOBSSON
SUHITA SHIRODKAR
4 USK SYMPOSIUM NEWS
5 USK NEWS & EVENTS
40 REVIEW | ENDNOTES
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MARCH 2019 3
USk Symposium News
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4 DRAWING ATTENTION
Look out for this year’s International Symposium Book Shop in Amsterdam. The American Book Center, nicknamed ‘ABC’, is a highly renowned, family-owned, multi-level dynamic bookstore in the center of Amsterdam which has been open since 1972. They will especially feature hand-picked titles and limited edition collectibles from this year’s workshop instructors. What’s more, you can also get your books personally signed! This is a fantastic opportunity to connect with and support your favorite instructors who are all volunteers and independent artists, So, remember to leave enough space in your luggage for all the extra 10th anniversary Symposium goodies! For the latest Symposium updates, visit the Symposium website. See you in Amsterdam!
USk News & Events
10X10 WORKSHOPS USk 10x10 Workshops are an excellent opportunity to learn new sketching skills from a top USk instructor and to meet a new community of sketchers in a location near you. To see the list of 10x10 classes around the world click HERE.
SHARE YOUR CHAPTER’S NEWS WITH OUR READERS Contact 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 to cover your story! Contact us at: drawingattention@ urbansketchers.org.
2019 Sketch Seminar May 31-June 2, 2019 For Information ChicagoSketchSeminar.wordpress.com
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FOLLOW USK ON TWITTER MARCH 2019 5
USk News & Events
THE DA LAT SKETCHWALK BY BRENDA MURRAY Sketchers from USk Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Dalat, Danang and Hue organized the Da Lat Sketchwalk, an ongoing event that included two sketchwalks on December 5-8 and 26-29, 2018. Eighty-five sketchers in total attended. It was the biggest event they had ever organized. Da Lat is a mid-sized city that looks like a cross between Vietnam and the French Alps because of its elegant French-colonial villas. It is surrounded by pine-covered hills, lakes, and higher peaks, and strawberry and coffee farms. The area has a rich cultural and artistic heritage. Sketchers enjoyed an opening speech by Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh, the program ambassador and architect from Da Lat University, plus guided sketch walks along the Heritage Route, tours of the Married Beans coffee shop, a musical show by Ngo Hong Quang & Nguyen Le, an exhibition, and lots of free time to enjoy this beautiful location. After the sketchwalk events finished, each participant contributed at least one sketch for an exhibition at Cau Dat Farm. The exhibition runs from December 29 to March 2. “It was the time for sharing, connecting, food, smiles, culture and sketch passion,� said Khieu Xuan Phong, one of the Ho Chi Minh City event organizers.
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USk News & Events
MARCH 2019 7
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ARGUINEGUIN VILLAGE BY PATRICIA ASSUNCAO
USK GRAN CANARIA LIVING IN MULTICULTURAL GRAN CANARIA IS A SKETCHER’S DREAM WITH ITS WONDERFUL CLIMATE DUE TO ITS LOCATION BETWEEN EUROPE AND AFRICA. BECAUSE OF THIS AND ITS COSMOPOLITAN CAPITAL, AND ITS LANDSCAPES AND VILLAGES, THE ISLAND OF GRAN CANARIA ATTRACTS SKETCHERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. BY SUSAN ROGERS
MARCH 2019 9
Featured Chapter
town squares. The Triana district houses a range of architectural styles with Spanish, English, Maltese and Danish influences.
I
f you visit Gran Canaria this year, you may be fortunate enough to take in one of the two USk exhibitions planned for 2019. But if that’s not possible, the group also has plans to publish a book so everyone can enjoy the delights of sketching on this fascinating island. Patricia Assuncao (above), one of the chapter admins, tells us that some of the best places to sketch in the capital of Las Palmas are the beautiful, old neighborhoods of Vegueta and Triana. Vegueta’s narrow streets and old buildings transport you to medieval times with views of churches, gardens and
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One memorable meeting took place at the Casas Consistoriales in Plaza de Santa Ana, Vegueta. Built between 1842 and 1855, the neoclassical Las Palmas Consistorial Houses were closed from 2001 until April 2010 when the building reopened after a complete restoration. Sketchers were invited by the Department of Tourism of the City of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria to draw the building to commemorate 500 years of history of the Plaza de Santa Ana. Sketchers were able to explore the building and go up on the roof for magnificent views of the nearby neighborhoods. According to Patricia, “these types of opportunities enable us to go to places we might not know about or we wouldn’t normally get the chance to visit.” She adds, “organizing meetings in unusual places like the old cemetery of Vegueta, small villages with
traditional festivals, and spots that involve a guided visit, are also very popular.” Patricia says that the biggest challenge for the USk Gran Canaria chapter is organizing meetings on an island that covers 1,560 km2 (about 600 sq. mi.). There are 148 members living on the island, and many live far from each other. Fortunately, there is no shortage of interesting places to sketch, and organizers simply vary the location and dates so that everyone can participate. The USk Gran Canaria chapter also maintains a close connection to USk Lanzarote, its Canary Island neighbor.
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USK Gran Canaria
“O
RGANIZING MEETINGS IN UNUSUAL PLACES LIKE THE OLD CEMETERY OF VEGUETA, SMALL VILLAGES WITH TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS, AND SPOTS THAT INVOLVE A GUIDED VISIT, ARE VERY POPULAR.” TELDE BY ÁLEX FALCÓN MARCH 2019 11
Featured Chapter
VEGUETA BY ALEJANDRO GARCIA
12 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk Gran Canaria
VEGUETA BY JOSÉ MIGUEL MARRERO
MARCH 2019 13
TELDE VILLAGE BY DAVID SANTANA
Featured Chapter
LAS CANTERAS BY PEDRO VILLARRUBIA 14 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk Gran Canaria
MARCH 2019 15
DOWNTOWN CALGARY BY JEFF DICKSON
Featured Chapter
BERLIN 16 DRAWING ATTENTION
USK CALGARY: MASTERS OF YEAR-ROUND SKETCHING CALGARY, IN ALBERTA, CANADA, BECAME HOME TO A NEW URBAN SKETCHERS CHAPTER LAST JUNE. THE APPROXIMATELY 25 MEMBERS ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT ON-SITE SKETCHING AND INCLUDE ARTISTS OF EVERY LEVEL FROM BEGINNER TO RETIRED ARCHITECTS WHO HAPPILY SHARE INFORMATION AND EXPERTISE –LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER AND IMPROVING AS THEY GO. BY ANN SCHWARTZWALD
MARCH 2019 17
Featured Chapter
I
n the summer, Calgary is known for its “Stampede,” an epic rodeo celebration. The Calgary Stampede grounds are a wonderful sketching site, as are the classic churches and heritage buildings in the city center, the downtown promenade with historical buildings, and a fabulous zoo right in the city. In the winter it is harder to deal with the climate. Peter Norman, one of the chapter administrators, reports that this dedicated group sketches every Saturday “outside when weather permits, but indoors when the mercury drops into the
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STEPHEN AVENUE BY SUMA KARVETI “ONE OF OUR FAVORITE PLACES IS THE NEW CENTRAL LIBRARY WHICH HAS RECENT OPENED IN CALGARY’S DOWNTOWN....AND AFTER SEVEN OR EIGHT VISITS, WE HAVE YET TO PLUMB THE DEPTHS OF ITS ARTISTIC OPPORTUNITIES.”
USk Calgary
SKETCH BY ROD ZILLMAN
MARCH 2019 19
CALGARY TOWER BY PETER NORMAN
Featured Chapter
sub-zero range.” They specialize in sketching “outdoor urban scenes from the windows of whatever building, plaza, or office tower that will give permission” during the colder months. “One of our favorite places is the new Central Library which has recent opened in Calgary’s downtown. It is an architectural wonder, and after seven or eight visits, we have 20 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk Calgary
yet to plumb the depths of its artistic opportunities. Sketchers work on views within the building as well as any number of downtown views presented at its expansive windows on four floors.” Peter also explained that Calgary has “a walkway joining all the major buildings and shopping areas in the core of the city. It is called Plus
15 (it is 15 feet above ground level). Recently, we were granted permission to sketch in any part of the system as long as we don’t impede the pedestrian flow. That has been a great resource for us as well as a very public witness to urban sketching for people strolling by.”
HISTORIC WALLACE RESIDENCE BY KAREN DUDLEY
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USk Instructor
SKETCHES FROM GOTLAND, KEW GARDENS (LONDON), FINLAND & DENMARK 22 DRAWING ATTENTION
Sketching the
SPACE-INBETWEEN DESCRIBING HIMSELF AS AN URBAN SKETCHER “HANG AROUND,” MIKAEL JACOBSSON RECOGNIZES THE WELCOMING POWER OF THE COMMUNITY, YET DOES NOT FEEL EMBEDDED IN IT. BY PEDRO LOUREIRO MARCH 2019 23
USk Instructor
“W
hen I was a kid I always wanted to draw and to paint.” After receiving a degree from the fine arts university, he started a design studio together with a colleague. However, after six years of working in design and illustration, he yearned to paint again, but this time, free from art school limitations. “I always carry a camera with me and I use it as a sketchbook, and then I turn those photos into paintings, but I also make a lot of preparatory sketches.” Mikael primarily works in oil, while referring to his pencil sketches and watercolors as “artistic pushups.” Mikael’s drawings, photos and paintings are mostly inspired by what he calls “the space-in-between.” He likes to focus on the area that exists between one object and another, rather than on the objects themselves, “letting things fall out of the image, cropping reality.” In Mikael’s vision, composition and abstract shapes are more important, and this concept fits neatly with his old friend Majid Modir’s workshop in Volterra, Italy, in May 2017. “I have known Majid for a long time, from when he was still living in Sweden, and I know his passion and skill in watercolor.” Majid later moved from Stockholm to Volterra where he teaches a watercolor course. “When he invited me as a guest instructor, I had to say yes,” Mikael recalls. For five days, Majid and Mikael joined efforts to teach their art to eight participants from such diverse locations as New York, Jakarta, England, Germany, Sweden and Belgium. While the bulk of the workshop, called ‘Frame the world, differently,’ was about composition and framing, Mikael’s part was about tonal values. “You had to choose one color of dark tint, and then work with light and darkness…a part of your painting is only light or dark in comparison to another part, and mastering this helps in getting a good composition.”
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Sketching the Space-In-Between
M
IKAEL.... LIKES TO FOCUS ON THE AREA THAT EXISTS BETWEEN ONE OBJECT AND ANOTHER, RATHER THAN ON THE OBJECTS THEMSELVES – “LETTING THINGS FALL OUT OF THE IMAGE, CROPPING REALITY.”
MARCH 2019 25
USk Instructor
“People say that I paint depressing and meaningless things,” Mikael remarks. “When you are painting things,” he replies in disagreement, “you are actually giving them meaning. Depicting is an act of meaning-making.” Mikael wraps up with the following thought, which could be a mantra for every urban sketcher: “Painting and sketching is a way to say that life is meaningful, even though it looks like…this.”
MIKAEL’S TIP: I HAD A MOMENT OF ENLIGHTENMENT WHEN I READ THE BOOK DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN, BY BETTY EDWARDS. THE BRAIN IS SO MUCH BETTER AT DEPICTING REALITY WHEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE SEEING, THEN YOU CAN HOTWIRE YOUR PERCEPTION. YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THINGS IN AN ABSTRACT WAY, AND THEN YOUR DRAWINGS WILL TURN OUT MUCH BETTER.”
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Title
MARCH 2019 27
Title
KEEP LOOKING! ISABEL CARMONA IS ALL ABOUT STAYING INVOLVED WITH THE WORLD AROUND HER. BY LESLIE AKCHURIN
28 DRAWING ATTENTION
Keep Looking!
“N
othing scares me more than coloring in” is not something every urban sketcher says. But Isabel Carmona laughs as she explains that she finds excitement in exploring her surroundings from beginning to end while on location. She feels that one needs to engage with the unexpected, and the creative response to a situation combines elements of adventure and purpose. For her, “art should be messy and in the moment.” She is especially attentive to environmental light and color, usually using watercolor to set the mood, block in shapes, and create the composition before judiciously sharpening forms with ink or pencil line. These ideas largely inform Isabel’s approach as an instructor in the “Pushing Your Sketching Boundaries” workshops that she conducts with several other artists. While Isabel lives outside London, she has forged a collaboration with sketchers from her native Spain, especially Swasky, with whom she first developed the series. In their next workshop in Bonn, scheduled for the weekend of April 12th, they will experiment with a
PLAZA DE LA ALIANZA MARCH 2019 29
USk Instructor
two-day format, rather than their usual three-day format. Isabel looks forward to joining with her students, pushing them outside their comfort zone and embracing the unexpected as they explore a city that is unfamiliar to her. She says participants should “expect some discovery, some new focus, thought process, or a new material.”
ARENA 30 DRAWING ATTENTION
She often “makes students uncomfortable” by encouraging them to loosen or temporarily abandon their usual picture-making strategies and media. But she adds, “I don’t like it when students want to paint like me. I want to share my approach and techniques and hope I can help people find their own unique styles.”
About a year ago, Isabel left architecture as a career and started concentrating on showing her work, teaching workshops, illustrating and writing books, and otherwise launching a full-time career in art. She has just finished a major project that she hopes will soon be published as a book: pictures made on location in seaside Brighton,
Keep Looking!
where she lived over a decade ago, with text that explores the ways it has changed. Currently she’s engaged with a second large project for which she will be walking or cycling the length of the Thames, sketching and writing about her experience. As usual, she’s excited about the openness of her adventure and has “no preconceptions about
what will happen or how it will end.” Over the past 12 years, Isabel has been translating her sketches into prints, using linocut, collagraph and silkscreen processes. She sees her print work as a significant means by which she continues to work with the ideas embodied by her sketches.
Additionally, she really enjoys the warm social aspect of sharing print workshops with other artists.” She relates the pleasure of community to urban sketching as well, in that she has come to rely on the extended family of artists she’s developed through the organization: “The more you know urban sketchers, the more you feel comfortable traveling anywhere and meeting up with them. You know you’ll have a good experience.”
ISABEL’S SKETCHING TIP: “DON’T BE SCARED; JUST DO IT. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU MAKE MISTAKES OR MAKE A BAD SKETCH--I DO IT ALL THE TIME! WHAT MATTERS IS THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SKETCH ITSELF AND TO KEEP LOOKING!”
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NEWTOWN CEMETERY
USk Instructor
32 DRAWING ATTENTION
Endnotes
MARCH 2019 33
CROSSING AND COMBINING CULTURES
by Making Art
34 DRAWING ATTENTION
Crossing & Combining Cultures
IF WE ARE ANYTHING AT URBAN SKETCHERS, WE ARE A WILDLY DIVERSE AND VISUALLY EXPRESSIVE GROUP OF GLOBAL ARTISTS, SHARING OUR WORLDS ONE DRAWING AT A TIME, AS WE CONTINUE TO EVOLVE AND LEARN FROM EACH OTHER. WE ARE ARTISTS, STORYTELLERS, AND SOME OF US ARE PASSIONATE INSTRUCTORS. THANKFULLY WE HAVE MANY AMAZING AND DIVERSE INSTRUCTORS TO LEARN FROM, AND ONE OF THE STAR INSTRUCTORS IS SUHITA SHIRODKAR. BY MEAGAN BURNS
S
uhita was born and raised in Mumbai, India, studied graphic design at university, and spent her early career years working on global campaigns at the Ogilvy advertising firm in Bangalore, India. Web and digital design were a growing industry at the time, so Suhita enrolled at Pratt University in New York City and earned a master’s degree in Communication Design, whereupon a job offer brought her to the Silicon Valley of California.
drawing has remained a steady tool to assimilate throughout the years.”
“My parents were supportive of my choice to move to America, they too had studied in the Midwest, but returned to India to raise their family. Now I am raising my family in America, and the opportunity to do so has been rich with experiences and challenges, but
When Suhita and her husband started their family, sketching was a way for her to continue to develop her style and skills, and all family travels now include time for mom to sketch, which has also taught her how to be a historian.
Suhita attended life drawing classes in the East Village of New York City when she was a student, and received encouragement from a teacher that has stayed with her over the years. The instructor said, “I don’t know why you’re doing it that way, but keep doing it.” Suhita has continued to develop her own style through her daily practice and her continuing education.
Now living in the San Jose area, Suhita’s desire to connect with her community brought about the idea of painting the disappearing vintage signs of San Jose. Researching the ‘Vintage Signs of San Jose’ project over the course of several years has allowed Suhita to learn about her hometown before it became Silicon Valley, and she now sits on the board of Preservation Action Council of San Jose, California. She has been a part of the Urban Sketchers community from the beginning, and attended her first MARCH 2019 35
USk Instructor
BOMBAY
36 DRAWING ATTENTION
PORTO – SAO BENTO
Crossing & Combining Cultures
“
DRAWING HAS REMAINED A STEADY TOOL TO ASSIMILATE THROUGHOUT THE YEARS.” MARCH 2019 37
USk Instructor
38 DRAWING ATTENTION
Crossing & Combining Cultures
symposium in Barcelona in 2013 as a Symposium Correspondent. The following year she became a Symposium instructor in Brazil, and has been a Symposium instructor every year since. Look for this passionate artist/instructor in Amsterdam this year, as she’ll be teaching ‘Scavenged Sketches: Gathering Tales of People, Places and Objects,’ leading her groups through the vivid flea market of Amsterdam and showing them how to weave together a sketch composition to tell a visual story.
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Review | Endnotes
PARKA REVIEWS BY TEOH YI CHIE
Teoh Yi Chie is an infographics journalist who joined Urban Sketchers Singapore in 2009. He is better known as Parka from Parkablogs.com a website that reviews art books and art products. This month Parka video reviews the Canon LiDE 400 Scanner. Check it out!
BRING A WORKSHOP TO YOUR CHAPTER
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Urban Sketchers organizes workshops taught by our top instructors in collaboration with USk chapters around the world. If you would like to bring an official USk workshop to your chapter, start the conversation with our Education Director, Mรกrio Linhares at education@ urbansketchers.org.
Endnotes
SHARE YOUR CHAPTER VIDEO ON YOUTUBE! The Urban Sketchers YouTube Channel would like to feature more chapter videos. Do you have a video of your group event that shows the group, the artists, their sketches and the location you sketched in? Share it with us! Guidelines: • MPEG4 or .mp4 file extension • Any length, however, the preferred length is 5 minutes or less • Steady camera • No advertisements To submit your video for consideration, please send it via wetransfer.com to Lydia Velarde, USk YouTube Manager, at zipchips@gmail.com. Shorter videos can be sent to Lydia Velarde on messenger. I am looking forward to viewing and sharing your chapter!
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Endnotes
WELCOME TO THE USK FAMILY! USk is pleased to announce eight new Regional Chapters, reflecting a truly global community! The newest groups to join the family are: USk Constanta USk St. Louis
USk Leicester USk Granada
USK CONSTANTA SUBSCRIBE TO THE USK YOUTUBE CHANNEL
FOLLOW USK ON FACEBOOK 42 DRAWING ATTENTION
Endnotes
Urban Sketchers is currently seeking volunteers to fill the following positions: • Volunteer Fundraising Director • Volunteer Board Secretary • Volunteer Workshops Coordinator • Volunteer Tech Team Members • Volunteer Sponsorship Administrator • Volunteer Instagram Operator For more information click HERE. MARCH 2019 43
Our Manifesto • We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation • Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel • Our drawings are a record of time and place • We are truthful to the scenes we witness • We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles • We support each other and draw together • We share our drawings online • We show the world, one drawing at a time.
© 2019 Urban Sketchers www.urbansketchers.org