Important Notice!

Dear Sketchers,

Starting March 11, 2020 Usk Chicago pauses all our regular sketch crawls/meetups until further notice.

Following CDC and public officials recommendations regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19) we will not host public meetings as a safety and health measure. We hope to resume our chapter sketch crawls/meetups as soon as these guidelines change.

Our Admin team is working on creating ways for us to sketch together virtually and will publish more about that soon.

Be safe, wash your hands and keep sketching!

Don't Forget Our March Meet Up!

Let's Sketch Chicago - Time Out Market

Public

 · Hosted by Evelyn Brody and Urban Sketchers Chicago

• 916 W Fulton Market

  Chicago, IL 60607

  
  

  Cancelled!Sunday, March 15, 12 PM – 3 PM
• 
  

With all the excitement about our 2020 Sketch Seminar announcements don't let our regular sketch meets get lost in the shuffle! 

Come join our Sunday, March 15, meet-up in the ever-changing Fulton Market district, where we'll sketch inside the new Time Out Market Chicago. This event is free, open to the public, and all skill levels are welcome. Thanks to Yelina Noskina for her lovely sketch in the invitation banner!
This recently opened block-sized brick structure is essentially a large atrium covered by a dramatic iron and glass skylight. Ground-floor communal tables are ringed by food vendors. A mezzanine level offers an overview of the main activity as well as limited views out to the Fulton Market district. If the weather’s nice, the top-floor Tony’s bar opens out into a terrace with limited, but interesting, views of the city skyline. Sometimes events take place in mezzanine bleacher seats, but the calendar doesn’t show anything yet for our date. It will be hard not to get hungry or thirsty; check out the info at https://www.timeoutmarket.com/chicago/eat-and-drink/. 

We will gather at noon and have our throw-down at 2:45 in the southwest corner of the mezzanine level, where a “Demo Kitchen” area will be empty early on a Sunday afternoon. Wherever you spread out, you’ll find tables and chairs or deep ledges for setting up your supplies.

For info on transit options, go to https://www.timeoutmarket.com/chicago/how-to-get-there/.

Hope to see you there!

What You've Been Waiting For!

Workshop Lineups and Descriptions!

 Over the next two weeks the workshop lineup and descriptions will be gradually be posted on the Seminar Blog.  The descriptions, learning goals, and supply lists for each workshop will be posted in plenty of time to help you decide which classes you'd like to take before registration on April 11. Be sure to check them out!

 You can keep up with Seminar news at the USk Chicago Sketch Seminar 2020 blog. Of course we will keep you posted here, too.

Registration will open on April 11.

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.

Announcing USk Chicago Summer Seminar Workshops!

What to Choose, What to Choose!!

USk Chicago has announced the workshops that will be available at the July Seminar. 

1. Aaron Elswick – Fake It Till You Make It 3.0
2. Alex Zonis & MJ Ernst – Chicago with Fountain Pen and Ink
3. Barbara Weeks – People Who Need People
4. Brian Wright – Practical Perspective for Urban Sketching
5. Jenny Zhang – Less is More
6. Jingo de la Rosa – Dear Diary: Sketchbooks as Journals
7. Joann Harling Larsen & Anna Rappaport – Surprising stories, fleeting energy: bringing life into your sketches
8. John A Hancock – The Value of Toned Paper Sketching
9. Katie Woodward – Tiny Sketching: Big Impact
10. Ken Czech – Marker Mashup
11. Marek Badzynski – Fast and Furious: Urban Sketching in ink, wet graphite & watercolor the Quick Way!
12. Mario Linhares – Folding Pages = Unfolding Sketches
13. Matthew Brehm – Brush Moves Water, Water Moves Pigment: A Mantra for Achieving Clear, Luminous Watercolors
14. Nishant Jain – Drawing the Graphic Novel of Urban Life
15. Paul Ingold – Compelling Gold Coast Watercolor
16. Suhita Shirodkar – People Alive!

Full descriptions and instructor bios will be added soon. 

You can keep up with Seminar news at the USk Chicago Sketch Seminar 2020 blog. Of course will keep you posted here, too.

Registration will open on April 11.

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.

What Do You Propose?

Workshop Proposals Are Due January 31!

Just a reminder, if you're planning to submit a proposal to teach a workshop at our July seminar they must be uploaded to JotForm by January 31.

Here's the direct link to the proposal form.

We have exciting submissions coming in! It's going to be a great time!

Are You In?

Let’s Sketch Chicago-Block 37

Sunday, January 19, 2020 at 12 PM – 3 PM

Let’s start the New Year out sketching at a new location for USK Chicago! We will meet at the top of the escalator, 2nd floor by the ZARA retail store at 12 pm. After sketching and taking our group photo we can stay and try out some of the restaurants at this location

More about Block 37:

Block 37 takes its iconic name from one of the original

fifty-eight city blocks established in 1830. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the city’s early office buildings, The first skyscrapers of the 1890s, and the supermarkets of the 1930s were all built on this site. Serving as an important social space for the neighborhood, Block 37 embodies the forward-looking growth of the city by having stood at the forefront of every major historic market trend for the past century. Continuing with its rich tradition, Block 37 brings together a perfect mix of shopping, dining and entertainment that offer locals and visitors a stylish retreat in the heart of the historic downtown Chicago Loop Theatre District.

Parking: 

Spot Hero and Park Whiz should be quite affordable due to it being a Sunday. There is also a parking garage located below Block 37 for anyone with mobility issues

Public Transportation:

The Red Line CTA State/ Lake stop is very close by

For more info go to www.blockthirtyseven.com

Questions?

Email ernstmaryjo@gmail.com

What Do You Know?

Are You Willing to Share?

Thanks to the dedicated crew of Chicago Urban Sketchers and instructors, we've hosted five fun and successful sketch seminars!  USk Chicago's sixth seminar will be July 17-19, 2020 and is in the planning stages.

As in the past, we're hoping for experienced and novice instructors to volunteer and share their areas of knowledge and love of urban sketching with us all. Each 2.5-3 hour workshop is taught twice, once on Saturday and again on Sunday. The rest of the time is yours to enjoy the USk camaraderie and fun!

We're looking for a variety of Urban Sketching topics. Workshops will be given outdoors, in the streets and parks around Palette&Chisel Academy, 1012 N. Dearborn. All our instructors, planners and admins are volunteers. Depending on a number of workshops submitted, there will be a selection process.

Interested?

Here's a direct link to the proposal form. 

If you have questions about creating a proposal or about details of your workshop, please reach to Alex Zonis or Barbara McCafferty Weeks, we would love to help! You can also send us an email, urbansketcherschicago@gmail.com.

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.