Sketching Symposium announced for Portland

***PRESS RELEASE***





[March 22, 2010]

Urban Sketching Symposium promises to be a big draw

The city of Portland, Oregon, becomes the canvas for drawing enthusiasts from around the world this summer as Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) and Urban Sketchers (USK), a nonprofit dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing, host the 1st International Urban Sketching Symposium.

This unique Symposium will feature a blend of lectures, panels, exhibits and sketch outings led by a dozen of instructors, including, among others, renown author of architectural drawing books Frank Ching, Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, Tia Boon Sim, an architect and design educator at Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore; Simonetta Capecchi, curator of “In Viaggio Col Taccuino” sketchbook exhibits in Naples; Gabriel Campanario, a staff artist at The Seattle Times and founder of Urban Sketchers; Veronica Lawlor, an illustrator and teacher at NYC’s Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute and the Dalvero Academy; and Lapin, a French illustrator based in Barcelona.

Guided by the symposium's presenters and instructors, participants will take to the streets of pedestrian-friendly Portland to sharpen their drawing skills and get one-on-one feedback. “Drawing is often a solitary endeavour,” says Campanario, “but I find that the energy and inspiration you get from sketching with others goes a long way when you are trying to develop as an artist.” The three-day event (July 29-31) is perfect for illustrators, architects, designers and other professionals who use freehand drawing as a communication tool. Symposium participation is open to everyone with an interest in drawing the urban environment on location.

Sketching sites include Portland's renowned Chinese, Japanese and Rose Gardens, the scenic waterfront and bustling city center of downtown Portland, as well as the vibrant cultural district in Oldtown and the Pearl District, where PNCA is located. Field groups focus on specific techniques —pencil, ink, watercolor— and subject matter —sketching people in movement, architecture. Expect to draw the boating activity along the Willamette River with interesting drawbridges as a backdrop, eclectic downtown architecture, public gardens and fountains, theater performances and Portland's wonderful indoor and outdoor night-life scenes.

Lectures will cover all aspects of sketching. Instructors will share first hand advice about drawing in public, tools, materials, techniques and composition, as well as how to share artwork on the web or get it published. An exhibit of sketchbooks and other original work by presenters will be on display at PNCA during the Symposium.

Participants are encouraged to register early due to limited availability. To register, check PNCA’s website.

Contacts:

Gabriel Campanario
Urban Sketchers
Executive Director
gabicampanario at gmail dot com
or 425.686.2398

Patrick Forster
Pacific Northwest College of Art
Director of Continuing Education
pforster at pnca edu
or 503.821.7864

Urban Sketching Class Nov 14 2009

This is from the Urban Sketching class this week. We walked downtown to Pioneer Courthouse Square, where workman were busy putting up the city's Christmas tree. I've never seen them do this before but, since large Fir trees aren't as full as your typical living room Christmas tree, they add extra limbs to fill it out.

Kurt, having drawn here several times before, had some great suggestions on compositions that had very interesting perspective views and, of course, I ignored him and chose this rather dull view to draw.

Urban Sketchers Class Oct 31

This is my first day back to class after missing 2 weeks for vacation. We drew inside because of rain.

Urban Sketching Class week 4

This week, Kurt led us on the streetcar to the downtown area. I've never done any sketching in this busy part of Portland.
This is the Arlene Schnitzer Concert hall, home of the Oregon Symphony. When I moved to Portland in 1981, this was the Paramount Theater. It was renovated and reopened in 1984 as part of the Portland Performing Arts Center. The sign that had the name 'Paramount' was retained but the lettering was changed to read 'Portland.'
.
This is one I posted last week with a little lipstick and rouge added.

Urban Sketching Class week 3

For this week's class, we stayed right outside the PNCA building. My tendency, when sketching, is to find something that interests me and start drawing, adding to the composition as I go. Kurt encourages us to compose before we start. The first hour is for sketching everything in with pencil, making sure everything is placed correctly. The second hour is to complete the work with ink.

I'm being forced to look more carefully.



This is more typical of my way of working. I sat down and thought about what to include in the drawing for a minute then said, screw it, I'm just going to draw the car. Once I got to a certain point with the car, I started to observe what was around it..