Vor Ort – Mainz Sketching Workshops

“Vor Ort” is an exhibition and workshop project celebrating Urban Sketching and is hosted and organized by Landesmuseum (regional museum) Mainz/Germany and local Urban Sketcher Jenny Adam.

Vor Ort.  Sketching Mainz Workshops with:

Lapin, Marina Grechanik, Sebastian Koch 

1st Workshop Weekend

Friday, Saturday & Sunday 29th of June – 1st of July 2018

Inma Serrano & Johanna Krimmel

2nd Workshop Weekend

Saturday & Sunday 7th- 8th of July 2018

Location: 

Mainz, Germany (25 min from Frankfurt airport), Host: regional museum Mainz

Participant number: 

up to 16 participants per workshop

Enjoy day-long workshops discovering the people and places of Mainz, learning about diverse sketching subjects!

Register here:

1st weekend workshop

&

2nd weekend workshop

About the city of Mainz:

Mainz is a city located by the river Rhine, with a rich history dating back over 2000 years. Once part of the Roman Empire, Mainz is a now a bustling university town and the capital of the province Rhineland Palatinate.

Our headquarters is the regional museum, or Landesmuseum Mainz, situated near the old town in a beautiful baroque building. The old quarter, with the market places, the Dom and half-timbered houses is just a short walk away.

In day-long workshops we will discover Mainz´s places and people and learn different Urban Sketching approaches with a faculty featuring both local and international instructors.

The workshops will be held on two consecutive weekends that can be booked separately: The dates are 29th of June- 1st of July 2018 & 7th of July- 8th of July. The first workshop weekend is three days long and will feature Lapin, Marina Grechanik & Sebastian Koch. The second weekend will be from Saturday till Sunday and will be spent with Inma Serrano and Johanna Krimmel.

The weekend includes not only day-long workshops, but also a special drawing event hosted on both Saturdays.The workshops will be held in english and german. A translator to german and english will be present if necessary.

Registration is via Eventbrite, see links at the top of the page.

1st Workshop Weekend: Friday, Saturday & Sunday 29th of June- 1st of July 2018:

Join Urban Sketchers Lapin, Marina Grechanik and Sebastian Koch for three days of drawing! In these three workshops, we will explore many facets of Urban Sketching: Lapin will introduce Sketchers to capturing wide scenes through 180 degrees perspective, and telling a bigger story through a wide panorama. With Marina, we will be getting much closer to the “Meenzer”- inhabitants of Mainz- interacting and drawing their portraits in the urban environment. Sebastian will further explore this subject, discussing how to capture people and vehicles in motion, themes that really make a sketch come alive.

Do consider arriving a day early, as there is more- the exhibition opening of “Vor Ort”, featuring the instructors work, will take place on Thursday 29th of June at 7 pm, the evening before the workshops start. There will be an introduction to the exhibition by Felix Scheinberger, whose works also feature.


Workshop “All you can see! 180º sketching” by Lapin

Our way to represent the space since « Renacimiento » is conditioned to a maximum 30º viewing angle, which is very limited compared to what we are experiencing while sitting in a place, turning the head, and looking up and down. That’s how I started sketching some curvilinear perspective in a very intuitive way, exploring how to represent a scene as in a sphere or as in a cylinder.

But I’m also used to fit the elements of a scene into the page, making some distortions, or adding the soundtracks of what I’m hearing while sketching, from the people that are talking to me, to the ringing bells from the church behind, or music of a car passing by…


Workshop “Face to Face! Urban Portraits That Tell Stories” by Marina Grechanik

“Faces are the most interesting things we see; other people fascinate me, and the most interesting aspect of other people – the point where we go inside them – is in the face. It tells all.” – David Hockney

For me there is no more interesting subject than sketching people, and of course the most fascinating part is – their faces. When I can’t pull out my sketchbook, I catch myself sketching with my eyes – watching the celebration of the human faces that constant surrounds us – men and women, adults and children, faces in all shapes and colors – talking, laughing, crying, telling us about themselves in all sorts of ways.

In this workshop we’ll practice drawing portraits, but not in a traditional academic approach.

Workshop “Pedestrians and Vehicles: the city in motion” by Sebastian Koch

People and architecture go well together. Almost every drawing gains when people appear in it. This may be because the viewer can identify with the person depicted or because we are used to recognizing faces everywhere. Either way, people make a drawing interesting. The downside: People normally don‘t stop while we draw them, or if they do it’s only for a few seconds. That‘s why it makes sense to cheat a little bit and build up a repertoire of faces and gestures, or to combine different passers-by into one. We will experiment with the different possibilities of depicting people and vehicles and try to overcome the shyness about quickly changing motives

2nd Workshop Weekend: Saturday & Sunday 7th- 8th of July 2018:

Join Urban Sketchers Inma Serrano & Johanna Krimmel for two days of drawing! We will be exploring the old quarter & experiment with loose lines, trying to sketch fearlessly. We´ll also explore the possibilities of chinese ink, creating captivating street scenes full of subtle washes and textures.

Workshop “Fearless sketching in Mainz” by Inma Serrano

In this workshop we will try to feel like children watching a place for the first time.

With simple exercises to leave behind the fear of resemblance, we will look into the essence and the feeling that the place inspires us. We will look for our own drawing language and style. I want to focus on the idea of rhythm, movement and color that every place has. Sketching this rhythm will give our drawings a much more dynamic and urban character.


Workshop “True Grit – Painting confidently with chinese ink” by Johanna Krimmel

Painting directly with Chinese ink may take a bit of courage, but once you discover the many possibilities it is very satisfying. Also don‘t be afraid to get a little dirty and gritty, let‘s mess around and see how we can catch a scene quickly by applying different kinds of loose brushwork. In this workshop we will discover that black ink is not only about strong line-work, but also about delicate greys and everything in-between, which can add amazing depth to your sketch.



Learning goals

  • Getting out of one owns comfort zone and sketching fearlessly!
  • Enjoy drawing without overthinking and worrying about the result
  • Experiment with different techniques, be it pen, or ink wash or watercolour
  • Learning about different aspects of Sketching (People, Architecture, Movement) in different workshops and putting them together in your own expression
  • Develop your own way of representing what you see with confidence
  • Learn to tell a story through sketching



Workshop schedule

FAQs

How can I register?

Click this link for the 1st weekend workshop

&

Click this link for the 2nd weekend workshop

What are my transportation/parking options for getting to and from the event?

There are a lot of public transport options: Landesmuseum/regional museum is just 15 min by foot from Mainz main station, or take a bus (5 min.) Frankfurt airport regional train station services Mainz in 25 min with train S8. for more travel options check germany railway services “Deutsche Bahn”.

What can I bring into the event?

Please bring your sketching supplies. The instructors recommend:

1. Paper: A small sketchbook: (~A5 size) with cheap paper or loose leaves, a good quality watercolor sketchbook (min. A5)

2. Drawing supplies: pencils of your choice, e. g. Fineliner (waterproof), Pens of different color (f.e. black, grey, ochre, red, blue… ) pencil, coloured pencils (water paintable), felt-tipped pencils, brush pen or brushes, water container, watercolors.

3. Also: A folding stool, sunscreen, a hat, water…

You don´t need every single one of these items, this is just a recommendation.

How can I contact the organizer with any questions?

Please drop me a line at jennyadam86(at)gmail.com.

What’s the refund policy?

Up to 30 days before event.

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