Meet the Correspondent: Marina Grechanik > Tel-Aviv, Israel$show=/search/label/Marina%20Grechanik


"Sketching is one of my passions. I don't feel comfortable when I leave home without a sketchbook and some pens in my bag. I think that my way to put things in my memory is to draw them. And taking pictures isn't the same thing.

I live in a very dynamic surrounding — Israel is a warm country with warm weather and warm people. Of course, we have seashores, which calm us a little bit. I love to sit in a corner of some Tel-Aviv coffee shop and explore relationships: between people, their environment, between myself. All this unique local mix of cultures, languages and styles is always a great source for inspiration. You need to be fast, because, as I said, everything is very dynamic. But that's why I love it so much.

Sometimes, I look around, and I find some usual items like sugar bags or napkins. I use them in my drawings to show the atmosphere. Sometimes I draw directly on placemats."

• Marina's art on Flickr.
• Marina's website.

Meet the Correspondent: Tina Koyama > Seattle$show=/search/label/tina%20koyama

"The dictionary says that a hobby is “an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation.” Although urban sketching certainly provides both pleasure and relaxation, I don’t think of it as my hobby. I think of it more as a way of life – something that has become such a normal part of my everydayness that it shapes how I view the world.

For most of my life I had both the fear of drawing as well as the desire to draw. In 2011, inspired by Gabi Campanario’s Seattle Sketcher column, I finally decided to overcome the fear. His drawings of Seattle – my birthplace and lifelong home – were of sights that I had seen many times, yet had never truly seen. I wanted to learn to see, and therefore experience, those locations (and any new ones that I travel to) more completely. Part 8 of the Urban Sketchers Manifesto, to “show the world, one drawing at a time,” has a flip side: Sketching enables me to see my own world, one drawing at a time.

In the last four years, it is not an exaggeration to say that Urban Sketchers has changed my life. I have met and sketched with many wonderful people around the globe, either at symposiums or during other travel, because the USk network brought us together. I sketch almost weekly with my local group, sharing sketches, art supplies and friendship. Even when I stay home and enjoy sketches online, I am still a part of that rich network, learning with every sketch about other people’s lives.

In May, my husband Greg and I went to France for the first time, and I sketched the Eiffel Tower. Sketching one of the world’s most famous icons felt like a dream come true – the ultimate in urban sketching. But although I can’t resist sketching world-famous icons whenever I’m fortunate enough to see them, for me, urban sketching is much more than that.

Urban sketching is a tree with its middle chopped away to accommodate Seattle’s ubiquitous power lines. It’s about a couple of women chatting over coffee, or about workers roofing the house next door. It’s about an excavator filling a hole where a cherry tree once stood. Or the Tibetan monastery I drive by frequently that I couldn’t resist because it’s bright orange. Urban sketching is a string band performing at a local farmers’ market – or perhaps in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Celebrating the mundane as well as the famous is what urban sketching is all about. My sketches are not necessarily about “special” moments; they are moments made special because I sketched them."

Tina has been editor of Drawing Attention since 2013 and now serves on the Urban Sketchers editorial board. See more of her sketches on her blog, on Flickr and on Instagram.

Meet the Correspondent: Pete Scully > Davis, Calif.$show=/search/label/Pete%20Scully



"I am from urban north London, but now live in urbane Davis California. I sketch, I write, sometimes do things and go places and my name is Pete.

When not Davis, I sketch Sacramento, San Francisco, London, or anywhere else I happen to be. I tend to erase people and cars from my cities, but I'm starting to get over this.

Davis: calm, old-fashioned, progressive, quirky, very very hot in the summer. I use micron and copic pens, with watercolour."

• Pete's blog.
• Pete's art on Flickr.

Meet the Correspondent: Suhita Shirodkar > San Jose, Calif.$show=/search/label/Suhita%20Shirodkar

"I was born in Mumbai (Bombay) and lived in different parts of India until I moved to San Jose, California, where I now live.

Travel inspires my art, but, traveling or not, I try to view the world around me as a traveller would; so whether I’m capturing a moment of calm on the banks of the Ganges in India, or sketching over coffee at my local coffee shop, I aim to look deeply, and with wonder, at both the everyday and the exotic, the old and the new.

I love color. My sketch kit consists of Extra Fine Sharpies (the fact that they bleed into the paper as soon as they touch it works really well for me—it forces me to work super-quick), a small set of Prismacolor pencils and a little watercolor travel set".
• Blog
• Flickr

Meet the Correspondent: Omar Jaramillo > Berlin$show=/search/label/Omar%20Jaramillo

"I was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where I studied architecture. I moved to Kassel (Germany) in 1999 to accomplish a master degree. Although I have always drawn and paint, it was not until I started studying in the Uni-Kassel, that I started keeping a travel sketchbook. I had a teacher there who used to do a lot of sketches when he travelled on university excursions. When he retired, I helped to organize an exhibition of his sketches. He brought a huge box full of sketchbooks he had filled since he was an architecture student. I spent a whole day selecting the most interesting drawings. It was a wonderful experience that opened my eyes to a new world. In the last 10 years I have the feeling of being in a long journey. I like to discover the cities where I live, to understand why a place is the way it is and what makes it different and unique from others. Drawing is for me a way to learn to love a place, to become part of it. I like to draw architecture but I am more attracted to urban scenery, portraying how people live in the city. Since I’m a foreigner, everything that locals find normal and taken-for-granted, for me is exotic. I always carry a small watercolor travel set from Windsor and Newton and my sketchbook in my bag. I always thought that drawing was a solitary experience until I found Urban Sketchers. It was amazing to find so many people doing the same thing. It is a great place to share!" • Omar's blog. • Omar's art on flickr. • Omar's website.

Meet the Correspondent: Luis Ruiz > Malaga, Spain$show=/search/label/Luis%20Ruiz

USk Symposium Hong Kong 2020 - News & Updates

As announced on social media in mid-November, it is with deep regret that the Urban Sketchers Executive Board and Urban Sketchers Hong Kong announces that the 2020 Symposium will not be held in Hong Kong and is cancelled for 2020. 

Please read on for a message from the Hong Kong Symposium team and Urban Sketchers Hong Kong.

In light of the most recent developments in the city, the Hong Kong Symposium Team expresses its concern for the safety (and fun) of each and every participant. Since this is no longer assured, Hong Kong is regretfully withdrawing as the host city for next year’s International Urban Sketchers Symposium. 

The Hong Kong Team is enthusiastic that when their beloved city is back to being stable and able, it will be a much better time to showcase her at her finest. 

We thank everyone in Urban Sketchers Hong Kong for the passion, responsibility, hard work and enthusiasm that they have put forward. We wish for better times for Hong Kong. Our thoughts are with you. 

We understand the importance of the International Urban Sketchers Symposium to our community, so cancelling the event was not an easy decision to make.  Our symposiums require 12 to 18 months of planning to be successful. This planning time is necessary to coordinate educational, operational, logistic and sponsorship aspects to ensure the event is both enjoyable for participants and sustainable for the organization. 

To accomplish this effort this year  is too large a burden to put on any local chapter and the symposium team. We recognize the enthusiasm and thank those that offered suggestions and ideas. USk members are amazing! 

There will still be ways to connect in 2020! To celebrate our global community, Urban Sketchers has set a goal to support the USk  mission on the six continents with Urban Sketchers chapters. Stay informed through our website, social media channels, and Drawing Attention in 2020 for more information about upcoming opportunities. We appreciate your interest and support as we make arrangements for these new opportunities.
For any inquiries regarding future events, please contact events@urbansketchers.org



Thank You & Official Hashtag #USKHK2020




This last month after #uskAmsterdam2019, many were reliving Amsterdam’s sketching high, carrying on with their next destinations, settling back at home, or writing proposals for next year’s big adventure!

With a shorter time frame for the Symposium in Hong Kong, hats off to everyone who wrote and submitted for next year’s programming! Thank you very much for your interest and participation to be part of the faculty. We received a lot of proposals and excited about what’s in store.

Our Education Committee is doing its best, evaluating each of them. It is always a hard task with the amount of brilliant proposals that we get each year. Stay tuned for the registration and programming information which will be announced in November 2019.

The hashtag to follow is #USkHK2020.
Subscribe to our social media channels to have the latest Symposium updates. 

Happy sketching!

Hong Kong to Host Urban Sketchers International Symposium 2020  8-11 APRIL 2020



We are happy to announce that the 2020 Urban Sketchers International Symposium will be held in Hong Kong. With other cities that submitted compelling proposals, it was a tough decision to make.

Hong Kong’s proposal brings together a juxtaposition of old and new. “Asia’s World City”, for all its reputation as a fast-paced bustling den of of business, has also remaining pockets where traditions run deep and life looks very much the same as it was decades ago.
Get ready to walk into shiny newness and grit from a bygone era. There’s an abundance of sketchable corners  buzzing with adventure, culture, great food, fast connectivity and friendly sketchbook throwdowns! The active community of Hong Kong sketchers believe that it’s time to share the secrets and wonders of their city with the rest of the urban sketching world. 

The Pearl of the Orient awaits everyone for a wild, unforgettable drawing adventure in 2020. 
It’s happening on 8-11 April 2020. Standby for more details. 



Call for Programming


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The 11th Urban Sketchers Symposium is on April 8-11, 2020. We are seeking proposals for Workshops, Demonstrations, Lectures and Skit Sketch by Sunday, 18th August, 2019 (11:59 pm GMT). Selected proposals will be notified by end of October 2019.
(You can see past symposium programming for 2019 here, 2018 here, 2017 here and 2016 here) 


WORKSHOPS
Workshops are presented as a more formal educational experience with a smaller group (a maximum of 15 participants), allowing for personal interaction with students. Instructors are expected to do a short demonstration, have one-on-one interaction with participants, and check on them during their exercises.
  • Duration and Frequency: All workshops will be 3 hours and taught up to three times over the course of the Symposium
  • Capacity: Focused instruction for up to 15 participants in each session.
  • Demo : Instructor will conduct a 40 minutes demonstration (incl 10min Q&A) with up to 25 participants, preferably in line with their workshop, during the symposium (venue can be their workshop location)
  • Compensation: If your proposal is selected, you receive a free registration for the Symposium, travel and accommodation. Instructors will receive an honorarium of $100 (or equivalent in local currency), for conducting all workshop sessions, including Demo, as stated above.  
  • If you are proposing a Workshop, you must download this form, complete your copy and include your sample sketches inside the proposal document (not as separate attachments).
We are aiming to increase the number of new and local instructors. If you have not previously taught at the Symposium, and you have teaching experience, we want to hear from you! For the previous years, we have already gotten a good mix of new and of local instructors, and aim to continue.
We are also seeking sketchers to share urban sketcher stories, sketching technique, sketching materials and present a DEMO, LECTURE or SKIT SKETCH presentation related to sketching. 

DEMO (for non-Workshop Instructors)
Demo allows you to conduct a live demonstration of your own work, your sketching methods or your tools. Your consent will be asked when you submit proposals regarding the filming of lecture sessions and that they may be shared online on USk platforms.
  • Duration and Frequency: 40 mins Demo presentation, 10 mins Q&A session and will only be conducted once.
  • Capacity: up to 25 participants in each session.
  • Compensation: If your proposal is selected, you will be entitled early registration, and will receive an honorarium of $100 (or equivalent in local currency).
  • If you are proposing a Demo, you must download this form, complete your copy and include your sample sketches inside the proposal document (not as separate attachments).

LECTURE
Lectures allows you to share your own work, research, urban sketching stories, the work of other sketchers, sketching history, or another topic of interest or concern to fellow sketchers. A projector will be provided. Your consent will be asked when you submit proposals regarding the filming of lecture sessions and that they may be shared online on USk platforms.
  • Duration and Frequency: 40 mins Lecture presentation, 10mins Q&A session and will only be conducted once.
  • Capacity: All interested participants are welcome.
  • Compensation: If your proposal is selected, you will be entitled early registration, and will receive an honorarium of $100 (or equivalent in local currency).
  • If you are proposing a Lecture, you must download this form, complete your copy and include your sample sketches inside the proposal document (not as separate attachments).
SKIT SKETCH
We are also seeking sketchers to share urban sketcher stories, sketching technique, sketching materials and present a talk related to sketching.
Skit Sketch is a ‘lightning talk’ presentation which allows you to share your own work, urban sketching stories, the work of other sketchers, sketching history, or another topic of interest or concern to fellow sketchers. A projector will be provided. Your consent will be asked when you submit proposals regarding the filming of lecture sessions and that they may be shared online on USk platforms.
  • Duration and Frequency: a presentation with 20 auto-advance slides at 20 seconds each (6 minutes and 40 seconds in total) and will only be conducted once. (similar to the format of Pecha Kucha or Ignite)
  • Capacity: All interested participants are welcome.
  • Compensation: If your proposal is selected, you will be entitled early registration, and will receive an honorarium of $100 (or equivalent in local currency).
  • If you are proposing a Skit Sketch presentation, you must download this form and include 20 images intended for the slide presentation, inside the proposal document (not as separate attachments).
--------------------------

SOME DETAILS TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE DRAFTING YOUR PROPOSAL:

You can propose a Workshop or Demo for a specific spot or a general location. We recommend you to get to know the possible locations before you create your proposal, in order to match your idea with the city’s environment.
  • Views of boats on a waterway.
  • A quaint neighborhood with close-set buildings and many bars and eateries.
  • A lush green park with some views of urban buildings from various vantage points.
  • A pond with fish and turtles.
  • Ancient trees with twisting trunks.
  • A busy older neighborhood with lots of hustle and bustle.
  • Street markets with vendors selling fresh produce.
  • A small place of worship set against a large boulder.
  • A charming outdoor eating area.
  • A large aviary with a walkway through the trees.
  • A park with cityscape views.
  • An old cathedral.
  • A street-level tram stop
  • An elevated walkway with green and city views.
  • A pedestrian alley with sculpture, trees and colorful views.
Map of suggested locations


  • All participants will be advised to gather with their Instructors at the Meeting place, before setting out to Workshop locations.
  • Workshop locations are subject to change and the organizers reserve the right to make the best arrangements and combinations of Workshops/Demos and locations.
  • Learn more about how to prepare a successful workshop proposal.
  • The official language of the Symposium is English.


 WHERE TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS 
All proposals must be emailed to symposium@urbansketchers.org

DEADLINE
All proposals are due by Sunday, 18th August, 2019 (11:59 pm GMT). 



LINKS TO ALL CALL FOR PROGRAMMING FORMS
If you are proposing a Workshop, you must download this form, complete your copy and include your sample sketches inside the proposal document (not as separate attachments).

If you are proposing a Demo, you must download this form, complete your copy and include your sample sketches inside the proposal document (not as separate attachments).

If you are proposing a Lecture, you must download this form, complete your copy and include your sample sketches inside the proposal document (not as separate attachments).

If you are proposing a Skit Sketch presentation, you must download this form and include 20 images intended for the slide presentation, inside the proposal document (not as separate attachments).

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