Look Back at 2012

2012 was another year of growth in interest and activity in urban sketching all across the world.  We're pleased to bring you this recap of Urban Sketchers' year of activity.

International Symposium and USK Workshops

Nearly 100 urban sketchers from 15 countries converged in Santo Domingo for the 3^rd International Urban Sketching Symposium.  

2012 also saw the debut of our Workshops Program. We promoted USK workshops in Lisbon, Portugal; Volterra and Naples in Italy, and Portland, Oregon in the U.S. These USK workshops were attended by about 80 sketchers combined. We hope more urban sketchers will apply to teach USK workshops in their cities this year. To learn about the program, visit our website here.

In the Media

In 2012, media outlets around the world continued to draw attention to the art of urban sketching and its practitioners. Our blog correspondents and members were featured on TV and radio broadcasts, in newspapers and magazines, including the following as well as numerous arts-related blogs:

Magazines: 92064 Magazine (USA), l’Art de l’Aquarelle (France) /The Art of Watercolor (USA) Artists and Illustrators Magazine (United Kingdom), BluPrint (Philipines), Peyzaj (Turkey), Vivre Paris (France).

Newspapers:  The Aucklander (New Zealand), The Commercial Appeal (USA), Montreal Gazette (Canada), Press Democrat (USA), Revista Paula (Chile), The Tribeca Citizen (USA), and USA Today (USA).

TV: canalSDI (Santa Domingo), King 5 TV (USA), RHTV (Philippines).


By the Numbers

Since our launch in November of 2008, volunteer correspondents have published 9,267 entries to date on the Urban Sketchers blog. More than 6,000 followers subscribe to our blog feed. The urban sketching community has grown to 6,080 Urban Sketchers flickr group members and 23,722 Urban Sketchers Facebook fans.


Regional Blogs

Drawing together is part of our USK manifesto, and our regional blogs grew tremendously in 2012, thanks to the initiative of many urban sketchers who have started sketching groups where they live. These new USK blogs were added in 2012:  Urban Sketchers Japan, Urban Sketchers Kuching, Urban Sketchers London, Urban Sketchers Midwest, Urban Sketchers Switzerland (the reincarnation of the original Basel Urban Sketchers blog), and Urban Sketchers Tri-Cities.

These new groups join 47 other country, city, state, and regional USK blogs that are already active. A full list of USK blogs can be found on the sidebar of our Urban Sketchers website.

Several USK groups have their own Facebook pages or flickr groups as well.


Group Exhibits

The work of Urban Sketchers correspondents, groups and members has been featured in group exhibits featuring urban sketching around the world this year, including:

• The Art of Urban Sketching, Mireya Gallery (Ginza, Tokyo)
• Matite in Viaggio 2012, (Mestre, Italy)
• Rendez Vous Du Carnet de Voyage (Clermont-Ferrand, France)
• Scenes Seen Exhibition 2012, USK Singapore's first large scale group exhibition at the Viridian Art house (Singapore)
• Seeing the World One Drawing at a Time: Urban Sketchers, Ackland Museum Store (Chapel Hill, NC, USA)
• Sketching the City, a Summer of London Sketch Exhibitions, Foyles bookstore (London, England)

Books

Several Urban Sketchers blog correspondents, members and groups published books this year, including:

• The Art of Urban Sketching by Gabi Campanario (Seattle, WA USA)  2nd printing and editions printed in: German, French, Korean and Chinese
• Hotel Sketch Mike Sketch: Hotel Rooms + Travel Sketches and Egypt Sketch Mike Sketch by Mike Daikubara (Greater Boston Area, USA
• Sketching on Location by Matthew Brem (Moscow, ID, USA)

Board of Directors

In 2012, two board members, - Cristina Urdiales, of Málaga, Spain, and Steven White, of Blacksburg, Virginia (USA) - stepped down from the Urban Sketchers nonprofit board of directors. We want to take this opportunity to thank them for their invaluable service.

We also had two new members join the board, including:  Steven Reddy of Seattle, WA (USA) and Shari Blaukopf of Montreal (Canada). Steven is an elementary school teacher in Seattle. He has sketched his extended stays in China, Bangkok, Singapore, Mexico and places throughout the western USA. His travel sketches are included in An Illustrated Journey: Inspiration From the Private Art Journals of Traveling Artists, Illustrators and Designers, published 2013.  Shari  is a Canadian graphic designer, teacher, illustrator and daily sketch blogger. She grew up and still lives in Montreal, where she continues to discover new neighborhoods in her never-ending quest to find the best streets and back alleys to sketch.

The full list of the USK Board of Directors can be found here on our website.


Financial Report

Here's a breakdown of our nonprofit's 2012 finances:

Income
Web advertising: $2,260
Amazon affiliate program: $708
International Symposium (registrations, auction, sales): $28,445
Donations from individuals and fundraising events: $4,657
Donations from sponsors: $4,500
USK Regional Workshops: $374
Total: $40,944

Expenses
International Symposium scholarships: $2,950
International Symposium: $29,416
Miscellaneous expenses: $1,205
Total: $33,571

(information compiled by Gabi Campanario, Lisbeth Cort and Victoria Lawlor)

(photos from Drawing Attention posts in 2012 and USK blog banners)