Urban Sketching with the Northwest School

7/12/17 Plymouth Pillars Park

Sometimes I think about how much more sketching I might have done before age 52 (when I finally did start sketching) if someone had just handed me a sketchbook and a pencil when I was, say, 14, and put the idea in my head. Instead of being wrapped up inside my own angst-filled adolescence, maybe I would have looked around and observed more of the world.

7/12/17 Students hard at work.

I would like to hope that something like that may have happened this morning for at least some of the 13 students at the Northwest School who are learning about architecture and design. For the second year, the school and the Seattle Architecture Foundation invited Urban Sketchers Seattle to lead a class session in urban sketching. Michele Cooper and I talked about our personal approaches to urban sketching, and then we showed some sketches and our sketch kits. Then I handed out a stack of pocket-size notebooks and pencils, and the kids were ready for their field trip! 

Their teacher Matt Fujimoto (former student of Gail Wong) and program coordinator Kathryn Higgins led us to nearby Plymouth Pillars Park. As was the case last year when David Chamness and I participated in the same program, the kids, ages 11 to 14, hardly needed our encouragement – they all leaped in with gusto. It was inspiring and heartening to see their energy and courage.

Other urban sketchers will be leading two more sessions at the Northwest School later this summer.

Teacher Matt Fujimoto helps the students get started.

Program coordinator Kathryn Higgins joins the students for
a little sketching.

Michele is back there in the shade!

Of course we ended with a sketchbook throwdown!

Seattle Architecture Foundation Exhibit Opening

Kay, Gabi, Tina and David attended the exhibit's opening reception (not pictured is
Mark Selander, who showed up later). (No, I'm not seated -- I'm apparently 3 feet
shorter than David.)

The nonprofit group Seattle Architecture Foundation invited Urban Sketchers Seattle to participate in its annual model exhibition. With the theme “In Process,” the exhibit is ideal for showing sketches of construction sites and other constantly changing projects in the Seattle area. A number of Seattle Urban Sketchers contributed sketches for the show. In addition, Logan Bingle, Kate Buike, Gabi Campanario, David Chamness, Mark Selander, Kay Tyllia, Jane Wingfield, Gail Wong and I all donated original sketches for the silent auction to raise funds for the foundation. Thanks to David for getting us organized and managing all the digital images for the show! Gabi gave a brief talk to the crowd about Urban Sketchers and the value of hand-drawn images.

Here's part of Urban Sketchers Seattle's exhibit of sketches.

At the opening reception last night, I was fascinated by the many creative 3-D models of real and imagined buildings and environments. While video and other digitally displayed models are cool to view, I was most impressed by intricate models that were hand-cut and assembled the old-fashioned way. Call me a Luddite – I like paper, pen, cardboard and glue!

Urban sketchers were encouraged to sketch during the reception, so I stood at the top of a short stairway to get a view of the mobbed exhibit room, but all I managed to sketch was a lot of backs!

The show is still on through Oct. 3 at 407 Union Street, so check it out!

9/11/14 Sketched at In Process exhibit opening reception