The Rock of Raouché (or Pigeons’ Rock; I hate pigeons but these aren’t rocks, people), on a recent virtual trip with our Urban Sketchers’ counterpart, USK-Lebanon. This drawing is based on this photograph.
I’ve long been a member of the New York City chapter of the Urban Sketchers. The group usually meets twice a week, every week, because some of us are hardcore, and some of us get drained by the week of all soul. The weekday group is led by Raylie Dunkel and the weekend one led by the chapter’s co-founder, Mark Leibowitz.
The Saida Sea Castle in Sidon, Lebanon, based on this photograph.
But since the pandemic early last year, our chapter’s organizers and support team had to find ways to keep the group connected and still be able to draw together safely. They cut the sessions to a weekly get-together via Zoom (zoom zoom! zoomie-zooms!), when a location is picked for the day and we all go in search of images of that location to use as sketch reference. We split into smaller subgroups of five or seven, take a lunch break midday, and join a new subgroup for the afternoon. This is how we’ve been able to keep connected with familiar local faces and, because we’re not limited by subject matter, invite international friends into the fold every Saturday (or sometimes Sunday).
Temple of Bacchus in Baalbek, based on a photograph by Roberto Piperno.
And as you can see by the sketches in this post, one of our recent virtual trips was to Lebanon, with the Urban Sketchers Lebanon chapter joining us for the day to explore and lead the way into their country, far beyond the strife one may have seen in the news: the wind- and water-hewn giant formations, Roman temple ruins, clusters of vibrant flowers shading streets and homes, colorful painted steps, and a deep, rich culture.
The New York City chapter visited many such domestic and international places virtually, and each locale is presented to the group by an ardent guide and docent opening the doors to one of their joys. For me, working from home five days a week, often with very little socializing outside of my high-risk household, these virtual meetings are a balm. There is a change in my mood after each meeting, and it carries me through some very trying life challenges during the week that persistently put an effective, cumulative blunt on any creative effort (drained soul).
Sketching together via Zoom is the way we can reach out.
And in this city so dense in population and cramped in space, sketching together via Zoom is the way we can reach out to our more isolated, immuno-compromised neighbors, at home and abroad, and make personal sketching connections we would otherwise create only in an annual Urban Sketchers Symposium. Sure, we can each sketch outside, in solitude and under the most cautious of circumstances, but then one loses the point of these weekly virtual meetings now become so vital to these, our After Times. We get to catch up with the people in our sketching group. We get to meet people in our global neighborhood. Nerd real hard with kindred spirits over art supplies and techniques and our plans for after these After Times. And how to make the best bread the Lebanese way.
Sketching, even for the most devoted of introverts (yo, how you doin’), is simply the icing on that fun people funtimes cake.
If you’re interested in joining the New York City Urban Sketchers on our virtual Zoom meetings, please join the Facebook group to be notified when registration opens (the meetings are free, you register at Eventbrite, but the number of Zoom spots is limited).