The 13th International Urban Sketchers Symposium: Day Zero

I am currently attending the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Poznań! And I intend to blog about it every day. So, if you have always wondered what happens at these events, here is your chance to find out. Think of me as your spy.

But first things first. Why am I here, anyway?

I blame Logan. He is the one who wrote this:

The question made a lot of sense, since 1. I am Polish by birth, and fluent in the language, so attending events in Poland is easy-mode for me and 2. I was planning to be in the area (well, Berlin) this summer. Oh, and 3. I had already done a few on-location sketches of buildings, so I was already an urban sketcher, right?

Not necessarily. “Urban Sketching” is not (only) what it sounds like (the practice of sketching in urban environments). It is a movement dedicated to capturing life through art, in the moment and through direct observation. It is also highly communal: there is an organization, a manifesto, and very regular meetups world-wide.

Over the last few months, I have attended a few meetups (in Kuala Lumpur and in Berlin) and have tried to discover whether the manifesto, with its call to sketch only on location and only what one actually sees, is taken seriously. The individual response vary, ranging from “if it does not follow the manifesto, it’s not an Urban Sketch and you cannot post it” to “well, sometimes it’s okay to darken shadows after the fact” to “ha ha ha no, I do whatever I feel like, would you like to see all the sketches I plan to finish at home?”

As for me, every urban sketch I have posted here is legit–mostly because I am too lazy to touch it up later. So I am definitely an Urban Sketcher. (If only a novice one – in spite of practicing quite a lot this spring/summer, I have completely failed to conquer impostor syndrome.)

And now… I am here, in Poznań. I had hoped to describe quite a few things on Day Zero, like casual sketching, the Art Market, and the opening reception, but Deutsche Bahn had other plans! So, here are the things I can actually describe.

The Train Journey

The train left Berlin, then stopped, then went back to Berlin, and then left it again, slowly. One of the doors was broken, and emitting a loud beeping sound, so on that second trip out of Berlin, we stopped to let an engineer fix it. He failed.
Disturbed by the beeping and the delays, I went for a walk through the train, and spotted a man frowning over a palette, so I spoke to him, He turned out to be Omar Jaramillo Traverso, an accomplished artist who had been involved in organizing the earliest Urban Sketchers’ Symposiums. So that was intimidating… and welcoming, because we had an interesting chat about sketching, and I did not realize that he was a Big Deal until afterwards. (I can foresee this being a theme of the Symposium.)

The Art Market

When I sprinted up to the hotel just as registration was closing, the market was closing too. So I saw nothing, other than Roman Szmal walking out of the building. Apparently his booth is very popular because you can try all the colours. I will report more tomorrow.

The Opening Reception

This involved introductory presentations about the organization of the Symposium and about Poznan culture, non-Polish nibbles, and one free drink each. And lots of mingling. Since I know nobody, I been fearing the awkwardness of the mingling, but it actually felt very natural, especially once people started whipping out their sketchbooks. Because yes, going through each other’s sketchbooks is a major activity here, and you don’t HAVE to show your own–there is plenty to discuss, anyway. (I did share mine out a couple of times, if only to represent the Urban Sketching Noob community.)

Further observations:

• Everyone wants to exchange instagram accounts! I do not even have an instagram. Maybe I should start one.
• I am almost certain that the famous people — known online instructors, etc — tend to deliberately flip their badges so you cannot see their names.
• The whole thing feels a lot like a work conference, with a crucial difference: everyone is genuinely happy to be here.

Tomorrow: actual sketching! And (hopefully) art-related insights!