Announcing Usk Chicago Sketch Seminar 2020!

 Usk Chicago is excited to announce our Sketch Seminar 2020!

July 17-19 2020 we're returning to the historic and friendly Palette & Chisel! We've teamed with them for our seminars before with great success and are looking forward to heading back there again.

There are several ways to keep up with Seminar 2020 announcements and information:

• Subscribe right here, the on-going USk Chicago blog,  follow us by signing up in the upper right hand corner of the blog.
• Subscribe to the USk Chicago Sketch Seminar 2020 blog.
• Follow us on Urban Sketchers Chicago on FaceBook.

Or do all three!

Save the date and keep an eye out for the latest news!

The new blog posts will be mentioned in the Facebook group but if you’d like to keep up to date by email just fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Team Sketching - A Panoramic Party!

Team Sketching – A Panoramic Party! 

with Don Colley and Peggy Condon

Interview by Wes Douglas, Urban Sketchers Chicago

I had the chance to talk with Don Owen Colley, who is a premier illustrator, demonstrator and the co-instructor with Peggy Condon for “Team Sketching – A Panoramic Party!” workshop during the 2018 Chicago Sketch Seminar. 

Here is one workshop that you really should consider.

Wes: Don, it’s good to talk with you again this year and I am interested in this Team Sketching workshop you are leading with Peggy Condon. What should people know and what can they expect?

Don: This Team Sketching workshop is all about the magic of everyone looking at the same scene, the same objects and bring out their own unique vision in sketch form. We take all of these wonderfully individual diverse sketches and arrange them into one large, collective ensemble. This is what I call “The Panoramic Party.”

Wes: Panoramic Party? That sounds like a three-dimensional sensory experience of some kind.

Don: "The Panoramic Party" is what we are calling this workshop. Think of it like the sketchers' conga line. Everyone has a role and is connected to the rest of the group but each person brings their individual interpretation to the sketch. All who sign up for this party are going to have fun, play with new ways to sketch, and discover a whole new way of seeing an urban setting. Others will be jealous when they hear what we're gonna do. 

Check out this example:

Wes: It seems to me that if I am working on a sketch that is part of a bigger, collective sketch, I would need to make sure that all of my lines match up to the next person’s sketch. Is there any concerns about the sketches not matching up or tiling together perfectly?

Don: No, not at all. In fact if you think of some of the pieces you know from David Hockney, where hundreds of individual photos are laid out to create a collective image, but nothing matches up perfectly, that is what we are attempting to do with the Team Sketches. There is perfect in the imperfect.

Did you know that mistakes happen when you are trying too hard to be perfect? So why sweat it? Mistakes are where the best learning happens anyways. This workshop is a safe learning environment where everyone is learning from each other and there is no judging.

Everyone is learning new tips and tricks from each other and bringing their individual experiences and perspectives to the party. That's what makes a team strong. And in this workshop, every team member is important and is needed.

All skill levels are welcome and encouraged. If you are a seasoned artistic professional, a hobbyist or just learning how to draw for the first time, we need you to be part of our team. You have life experiences that no one else has and we need you to make this team work.

If you go to the website https://chicagosketchseminar.wordpress.com and click on the “registration” tab, then click on the “BOOKWHEN” type, it will take you to the list of workshops. The Team Sketching workshop is WS 16 on Saturday morning from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and Sunday afternoon 2:30 pm to 5:30pm.

So what do you say? Will you be part of the team?

USK Chicago presents The 2015 Chicago Sketch Seminar

This Urban Sketcher Went to Market

Whole Foods, Lincoln Park: Despite the snowy, gray day we had a good turnout for our January sketch meet. So many scenes to sketch! I've been to this Whole Foods many times but never on a Saturday afternoon. It was a madhouse mixture of fun, comradery and business and not just USk Chicago sketchers. Sketchers and shoppers alike seemed to be enjoying themselves. Not only did we have a great time sketching but we also continued out work on the plans for Chicago Sketch Seminar coming in June. 

Part of the USk Chicago group at Whole Foods

For more information on the seminar don't forget to check out:

FaceBook: Urban Sketchers Chicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Instagram: #uskchicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Pinterest

Follow up in Twitter: @USk_Chicago

Join USk-Chicago in Adding to Chicago's Art Story!

To add to the great announcement about our June 7-8, 2014, seminar location here’s a little color commentary about the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts. It's a not-for-profit art club and academy founded in 1895. It’s been located in an 1870’s circa mansion in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood since 1921. Many well known artists have been associated with Palette and Chisel including Fred Larson, Charles Russell, William Merritt Chase, Alphonse Mucha, Walter Ufer, and Richard Schmid, to name a few.

Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts offers non-instructed open studios with live models as well as classes and workshops for all levels of experience in many aspects of realistic art. Today, as well as throughout it’s long history, it is a respected institution for representational art in Chicago.

Stay tuned here and to FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for further updates! We hope you'll join us in adding to the Chicago art story!