MUSEUM SKETCHERS

Possibly you have heard of the organization Urban Sketchers.

Urban Sketchers do what the title suggests; they sketch in urban settings. And they do it in a group. So there is a social component to the activity. Sketching in a group serves as an incentive for some to pick up the pencil. And they then share their work with others. They have organizational chapters.  They conduct symposiums.  They have fun.  The whole concept and activity is absolutely great.

So why not Museum Sketchers.

As the title suggests, folks would sketch, in a museum, as a group.  In our ever present quest for form here in these pages, sketching from museum objects is the ne plus ultra.  Rather than spending your time sketching representational street scenes, wouldn’t it be better if you spent you time in the quest for form?

The sketch at the top of the page is yet another of my Transparent Drawings of a Kawakubo dress.  True to the Transparent Drawing Method, I made my drawing from photos that I took of the piece in the Met exhibition.

Yet there is no reason why I could not have at least started the drawing in the museum.  Basic lines and geometries could be put down in situ.  And then the tones and associated forms could be added later using the photos that you took.

Curators might have a problem with say 7 people standing in front of one object and drawing it.  For one thing, this would prevent others from seeing the piece.  And they might have security concerns.

To get around those problems, what if Museum Sketchers used the Transparent Drawing Photography method.  They would agree on an object that they wanted to draw, just like Urban Sketchers agree on what street scene they will draw.  They would take photos of the object.  Then they would retire to the museum coffee shop and then have a nice social drawing experience drawing from their photos.

By the way, it seems that the Met has expanded their refreshment offerings.  There is a coffee bar on the mezzanine just above the main entry which I had not seen before.  And I passed at least one bar bar en route thru the museum.

I typed Museum Sketchers into the datamist and nothing came back that even remotely resembles an organization.  So if you are looking for something to do, here is another Transparent Drawing Spin Off Project.  Start the first chapter of Museum Sketchers.  Use the model of Urban sketchers and see how this might work. Organize a group and then hit a museum.

After I made the drawing above, I made the drawing from drawing below.  Taking the basic gestures from the Kawakubo piece, I started to imagine a building with a unique form and interior space.