15 Years of Sketching with My Tribe

7/17/24 Fishermen's Terminal for our 15th anniversary outing

Dave at Fishermen's Terminal

Although I slept in my own bed each night, I felt like I had been traveling last week – in fact, it felt like I had traveled to an Urban Sketchers Symposium! It was Sketcher Fest, which was all the exhilaration and intensity of a symposium but none of the jetlag – and we had perfect weather, to boot.

Before things got underway in Edmonds, though, we had an unrelated event that was timed perfectly as a lead-up to Sketcher Fest: USk Seattle’s 15^th anniversary celebration! We chose Fishermen’s Terminal, the site of the very first Urban Sketchers outing ever (in Seattle or the world) on July 19, 2009. The late-afternoon outing was followed immediately by a drink & draw across the street at Figurehead Brewery. Both were well attended; in fact, the Terminal turnout of 50+ may have broken previous attendance records. Included were four of the original attendees from 2009: Frank Ching, Dave Morris, Mark Ryan and Gail Wong. (Sadly, Gabi couldn’t join us because he was too busy getting ready for Sketcher Fest!)

Figurehead Brewery drink & draw, where I did more chatting than drawing. Featured in my sketch are Mario Linhares' family (Portugal) and Suhita Shirodkar (Bay Area), all in town for Sketcher Fest.

15th anniversary commemorative sticker (top, featuring the 
Fremont troll) designed by David Hingtgen

To commemorate our milestone year, we published a retrospective collection of sketches from members arranged chronologically year by year. It’s amazing to see how some parts of Seattle have changed significantly during the last 15 years, while others have not – all recorded by our sketches.

I’m republishing below the introduction I wrote for the book (co-edited by Jane Wingfield and myself and designed by Ellie Doughty). The book is still available for purchase (suggested donation $20).

 

Building Community One Sketch at a Time

Drawing and painting what we see on location has occupied artists for centuries. The activity we call “urban sketching,” however, began in 2007 when Gabriel Campanario first created a Flickr image-sharing group. Gabi, a journalist and illustrator who had recently transplanted to Seattle, named the group Urban Sketches. He primarily intended the online group as a common place for sketchers around the globe to share their work. He didn’t know then that a major benefit of that initiative would be a way for sketchers to connect in person.

Like many of the best ideas, that connection began spontaneously. Frank Ching, well-known University of Washington professor of architecture and acclaimed author of books on architectural drawing, contacted Gabi. Seeing Gabi’s then-new Seattle Sketcher column in The Seattle Times, Frank had mentioned his own passion for drawing on location. After getting together at Fremont Coffee Company (a meeting that became a Seattle Sketcher blog post), they agreed to sketch together the following month at Fishermen’s Terminal.

Encouraged by some World Wide Sketch Crawl events he had attended, Gabi wanted to invite others to join them. He used the Urban Sketchers Seattle blog he had recently launched to announce a gathering at Fishermen’s Terminal on July 19, 2009. Thirteen sketchers showed up that day. That was USk Seattle’s first outing, and we’ve been meeting regularly ever since.

Initially gathering monthly, we now meet as often as weekly during the best weather months. Even cold, wet winter gatherings can bring out a hardy dozen or more, and beautiful summer days can attract upwards of 30 sketchers. The USk Seattle Facebook group, now 1,700 strong, has been growing steadily. (Meanwhile, the worldwide Urban Sketchers community has grown to tens of thousands.)

“Urban Sketchers came out of my love for drawing and wanting to discover Seattle,” Gabi says, who had moved to the Seattle area with his family in 2006. Although his initial intentions weren’t necessarily focused on the social benefits of urban sketching, “To put together an idea that inspires people all over the world is humbling,” he says. “Making connections through drawing is a privilege.”

Indeed, it is. And all of us who form this community are both honored and proud to show the world what Seattle looks like, one sketch at a time. This publication is a small collection of the many sketches Urban Sketchers Seattle members have made during the past 15 years.

July 17, 2024