Urban Sketching: Take to the Streets

A small group of sweaty architecture students fan out up High Street in Oxford, Ohio, take a seat on the sidewalk with makeshift drawing boards and sketch paper. We begin our first drawing assignment, draw a storefront window display. The reaction to this assignment was mixed, but mostly we were bewildered and a little annoyed. We thought we would be designing skyscrapers. Instead we were hot, uncomfortable, and just drawing, not to mention a bit of a spectacle. It was Urban Sketching, before it was a ‘thing’. The class continued, we all trekked around campus in all weather to sketch buildings and nature. We began to appreciate the craft and the skills it built in us professionally. Not to mention we knew that campus inside and out after a few short weeks.

Sarah and I started a monthly gathering of our creative friends and colleagues after Sarah took an Urban Sketching tour of Orlando last year at AIA ’17 Annual National Convention. It’s a fun way to meet up with friends, get out into the community, and to practice our craft.

There are a few rules, but it mostly is just a fun, no judgement zone, to create and support your love of creating art. You must draw what you see while you are on site. No photos. After about an hour and a half, you throw down what you drew. You can experiment with different styles and mediums, and you do not need to be a professional.

Our first throwdown, Cincinnati Art Museum

Spring Grove Cemetery

Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church, sketching to Organ Concert

Enjoying snacks and drinks at Northside Yacht Club

Come join us this Sunday, April 29th at the Dayton Art Institute at 1:30. We plan to meet up, visit Above the Fold: New Expressions in Origami, and sketch.