Friday, August 28, 2015

Who We Are and What We Do

The "Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawl" began as an alternative event for any urban sketcher who couldn't attend the Barcelona Symposium hosted by Urban Sketchers International in 2013.

Only the first event in San Francisco took place the same weekend as that symposium. Uncomfortable with the unintended consequence of being in competition, we no longer schedule at the same time. Still, that is how we got started - looking for an alternative event.

The goal of our west coast events is to provide an opportunity for like-minded people to gather somewhere on the west coast of North America with old and new friends to "show the world, one sketch at a time."

These events are  FREE: there are no fees, no workshops, no demonstrations, no money exchanges hands. The only exception was in Tacoma where funds were collected ahead of time to pay for a caterer for the Friday event. All payments went to the caterer.

Friday we begin the weekend with a "meet 'n greet" beginning at 6 pm. We have had dinners together, we have broken-the-ice with "5 minute portrait sketches," and we have handed out some very nice gifts (sketchbooks, pens, paints, brushes, etc.) provided by our sponsors. We are looking at other options for the Friday night event in Vancouver in 2017.

Saturday we meet at 9 am in a section of the city designated by the local planning committee and hold a marathon-sketch-crawl lasting until 4 pm. Sketchers are on their own for lunch; however, in Tacoma, some of the local organizers escorted sketchers to the finer eateries in that area. At lunch, we take a group shot, hold a sharing of our sketches; and at 4 pm we meet again for the last sharing of the day.

Sunday morning our last session runs from 9 am to noon, then the last sharing, followed by a few words of closure.

If you have questions, comments, or would like host one of these fun summer events, just click the link:
                              EMail

We look forward to hearing from you!