Monday, February 20, 2012

Urban Sketchers Symposium #3!

This just in on our parent blog, Urban Sketchers...a fabulous lineup again this year, in a wonderful spot. I can't go, but I hope some of you can!

Santo Domingo Symposium website and press release

Our Symposium website is up and running at sdq2012.urbansketchers.org! Stay tuned for full list of instructors, workshops descriptions and registration information coming in March. Below is also our press release. Help us spread the word and hope to see you in Santo Domingo in July! To receive updates, sign up to the Symposium mailing list using the gadget at the top of the right sidebar. -->


*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***




Santo Domingo to host 3rd International Urban Sketching Symposium

(By URBAN SKETCHERS. Feb. 20, 2012) — The Dominican capital of Santo Domingo is the host city of the 3rd International Urban Sketching Symposium July 12-14, 2012. This three-day event is organized by Urban Sketchers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing.

More than 100 local and international sketching enthusiasts will gather in Santo Domingo to capture the city's people and architecture with their drawings.

At the heart of the three-day conference are 40 hands-on sketching workshops around Santo Domingo’s Colonial Zone, panels and lectures that will take place at Centro Cultural de España (CCE), and a closing reception at Museo de las Casas Reales. The Center and the Museum are centrally located in Santo Domingo’s Colonial District, within walking distance of scenic city landmarks such as Santa María Cathedral, the first in América; Alcazar de Colón (Columbus Palace); the National Pantheon; the Fortress of Santo Domingo, known as Ozama Fortress; ruins of the Monastery of San Francisco; and many more monuments from the 1500's.

The sketching workshops will be led by an influential team of local and international artists, including Frank Ching, renowned author of architectural drawing and design bestsellers and professor emeritus at the University of Washington; Melanie Reim, chair of the MFA in illustration program at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City; Eduardo Bajzek, architect and illustrator from São Paulo, Brazil; Inma Serrano, an art educator from Sevilla, Spain; Thomas Thorspecken, an Orlando based artist, teacher and former Walt Disney art director; Lynne Chapman, a children’s books illustrator based in Sheffield, England; and Santo Domingo artist and educator, Orling Domínguez, also a Symposium organizer. (The full list of instructors and workshops will be announced in March.)

Domínguez attended the previous Symposiums in 2010 (Portland, OR) and 2011 (Lisbon, Portugal) and said the experience was so amazing she wanted her hometown to play host to a future Symposium. “In three days you get to meet amazing artists from all over the world, see them ‘in action’ and take a first look at great sketchbooks while sharing a meal and drinks. The intensity of the three days is so inspiring that you go back home totally energized and making plans for the next gathering! It's the perfect summer break for any urban sketcher!”

About Santo Domingo, Domínguez says the city is perfect for this type of event. “In the Colonial Zone, participants will have the opportunity to sketch the welcoming locals playing dominoes or dancing Merengue, plus some of the oldest historic landmarks in the Americas since the arrival of Columbus,” said Domínguez.

For Marie Christine Compane, a French sketcher who participated in the Lisbon Symposium, the event was a great occasion to meet other people fond of drawing, while learning from the sketching workshops. “In the ‘Contrast’ workshop we learned to sketch with strong colors and values in Lisbon's colorful little streets: pink, yellow, green, purple were really there. The atmosphere was really motivating, fun and full of gentle smiles,” said Compane.

“Our mission is to show the world, one drawing at a time,” said Urban Sketchers founder Gabriel Campanario, a Spanish journalist and illustrator based in Seattle, WA. “With the Symposiums we want to bring our passion for drawing our communities to a different part of the world every year. The Santo Domingo Symposium is sure to inspire local and visiting participants to see their cities with new eyes.”

Urban Sketchers is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location where they live and travel.



Symposium website:
http://sdq2012.urbansketchers.org

International media requests and sponsorship opportunities
Elizabeth Alley
elizabeth@urbansketchers.org

Local media requests and sponsorship opportunities
Orling Dominguez
orling@urbansketchers.org

General questions
symposium@urbansketchers.org

Urban Sketchers website
http://www.urbansketchers.org

2 comments:

  1. I attended both the 1st Urban Sketchers Symposium in Portland and the 2nd in Lisbon, last summer. For me it was life-changing. Go if you can! To be surrounded by top-notch sketchers from around the world, with drawing being the common language, is exhilarating. You will have a fabulous time there in Santo Domingo and have a year’s worth of inspiration that will evolve your drawing practice immeasurably. I’m still trying to figure out if I can go.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marcia, we'd be interested in seeing your sketches or photos from the Symposium!

    ReplyDelete

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