Being an Illustration student, I wanted to make a point to head to the reception, even though I've seen the gallery several times already. It's a very Fine Arts oriented gallery usually, and while I have no problem with that in general, it's cool to see an Illustration show for once.
In preparation for the gallery, and the visiting artists whose work populates it, my teacher Fred Lynch had my class out in the coffee shops of Massachusetts sketching random people and things we saw. My friends and I enjoyed doing it so much that we're making a regular thing of it when we can. It's fun, it makes for great stories, and it forces us to view things a certain way. I like that.
One of the most notable of the visiting artists was Gabi Campanario, who is an extremely nice guy, and one of the founders of the website Urban Sketchers. It's a great blog, and there's a lot of really interesting work there. Gabi's interesting, because while he draws very well, and EXTREMELY quickly, he doesn't call himself an artist. He's a journalist who uses art and illustration, and I think that's really fantastic.
Urban sketching is what my whole week has been about. It's what I've done for class, it's what I've done in terms of work, and it's what I've done for fun. It's what I've been talking to people about lately. I went to a lecture by Gabi about it, and I went out with other students and the visiting artists in the freezing cold on Friday to do more of it.
It's something I've done very little of in the past, but in the last week I've been very enthusiastic about this type of drawing. Anyway, onto the pictures and some links. Click on the pictures for bigger images.
My teacher Fred Lynch's Italy work.
Attendees milling about.
Interesting seeing works that are just sort of tacked up there.
The gallery artists
I like seeing people talking about what they're looking at. I should sketch people next time I go to a reception.
Some of the sketchbooks of Elissa Della-Piana, who is one of the teachers here at Montserrat. Her work is ridiculously impressive.
A friend of mine looking at the wall of student work in the center of the gallery.
Some of the aforementioned wall of student work. A few of my own sketches are there, roughly in the center of the picture, to the left of that very straight column of pieces (which are done by my good friend Ron Beek III) with the gentlemen who looks rather like an older Bruce Willis.The gallery's page.
Urban Sketchers
Gabi's Website
Gabi's column for the Seattle Times
