Alas, I've been ignoring my blog for much too long! But, I have been BUSY, pursuing a dream!I have taught field sketching and architectural perspective for many years. It all started when my fellow classmates at Pratt, who were frustrated by their drawing class in school, turned to me for help. We started a "sketching club" and at lunch, I would teach my friends how to sketch buildings while they munched on their sandwiches.
As soon as I graduated with a Masters from Pratt, I started teaching at Parsons School of Design in NYC (yes, I actually worked with the amazing Tim Gunn, as I was the first person he hired to teach in the new Interior Design program at Parsons...he was then as he is now--elegant, gracious, and spot-on concerning most things...but it so strange to see him on TV and magazine covers...) For ten years, I took Parsons students to sketch on the Staten Island Ferry, the top of the Empire State Building (day and night), to a ticker tape parade in lower Manhattan, to draw the ceiling at St. John the Divine Cathedral, the period rooms at the Metropolitan Museum, the arches at the Cloisters museum, the reading room of the New York Public Library, and even a "field trip" to sketch in San Francisco... and more...it was so fun and challenging, a really wonderful experience. And I LOVE hearing from those students from long ago, who still kindly write to say thank you...pretty much what any teacher lives for.
I have also taught for 10 years or more at Cornish here in Seattle where I now teach a field sketching class called Drawing Space to sophomore design students. I've taught workshops directly to architecture firms as well, but it's taken a while to figure out a format, how to approach setting up a workshop that would be open to anyone interested in learning...I sensed that there were people who wanted to learn or improve basic sketching skills and in particular, perspective...but were they really out there and how would we find each other?
Enter Gabi Campanario. When I mentioned a workshop idea to him, he was so positive, so encouraging, that I immediately submitted a proposal to Urban Sketchers. Orling was great and worked with the committee so quickly--thank you--and in almost no time, I got the green light to post the information to the Urban Sketchers workshops page!
The response was unexpectedly GREAT!!! Good Bones filled in about a week, and the waiting list grew so long, I realized enough people had responded to seed a second workshop...thus, Good Bones 2 was born...and it filled in only TWO days!
So, here we are at last...people will be coming from so many places for Good Bones 2...Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, California, BC Canada, and even as far away as Kentucky! And now the waiting list has grown long enough to seed a Good Bones 3...look for info!!!
I will continue to teach as long as there are people interested in learning.
I am so grateful to everyone, as teaching is something I truly love to do, ever since I was a child. I remember struggling to learn how to draw in architecture school, and that struggle inspires me to help others to learn. I am also so grateful for receiving the Gabriel Prize and spending 3 months in France this past summer, an opportunity to draw and paint and and improve this craft and create a body of work that has virtually propelled me into the sketching world...nearly 180,000 views of my flickr sketches so far!! Unbelievable.
The Gabriel Prize, Urban Sketchers, KRob awards and NIAUSI (I'll be teaching a workshop in Italy this July!!!), are making it possible for me to pursue a lifelong dream, to share what I have learned about sketching and painting. And in the process, we're also keeping sketching and hand drawing alive in a digital age!
To each of you who will attending Good Bones or Good Bones 2 (3, 4...?), to those who happen to read this blog or follow my flickr page, I thank you so very, very much for this opportunity. You are making my dreams come true!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment