USK Symposium 2012, Santo Domingo

This weekend I had the very special opportunity of attending the 2012 Urban Sketchers Symposium in the neighbor Dominican Republic. About a hundred very talented and passionate artists from sixteen countries contributed to make this a certainly unforgettable experience for everyone involved. We all made new friends, learned a lot and shared much more.

I participated in five workshops in three days; five apparently completely different visions that basically shared the same approach, to ovserve and experience our surroundings and graphically record our interpretation. It was evident that urban sketching is much more than merely drawing. It’s about communicating how we see the world around us. It’s really interesting that people with very diverse backgrounds have this interest in common. From artists, architects, landscape architects, designers and illustrators to doctors, school principals, journalists and students sharing their documented experiences on paper.

These workshops, although short in time, have really rattled my thinking, not only in terms of art, but as a person as well. Having acclaimed, world-renowned artists and authors such as Frank Ching sit down in the floor with you and participate as part of the same group is really mind-blowing.

It were really intense three days, I’d never sketched that much in my life. I still haven’t had the chance to photograph my sketches but a few, will keep updating as I can.

I’ll try my hardest to make it to next year’s symposium, wherever they decide to meet. It definitely has been a fantastic experience.

Here are a few of the sketches done: