Urban Sketchers Kochi to hold a sketching expedition on August 15

USk Kochi celebrates city through art; 250 plein air artists sketch, paint different locations; launch coffee table book, plan Sketchopedition. Artists sketch in situ for 90 mins-2.5 hrs, come together for peer review, share work on social media. No rules, no fee, no hierarchy; open to all ages.USk Kochi celebrates city through art: 250 plein air artists sketch, paint, share work on social media. No rules, no fee, no hierarchy; open to all ages. Launch coffee table book, plan Sketchopedition. Peer review, 90 mins-2.5 hrs sketching in situ. Celebrate every aspect of city!

A splash of red here, a dab of white there, some fine lines in black, followed by a sweep of yellow…. At the end of two-and-a-half hours, the watercolours on the white paper take on the shape of the iconic clock tower in Jew Street. A work in pen and ink focusses on the street itself; a sketch in pencil maps the façade of the Paradesi Synagogue; a pen work details the colonial features of the architecture.  

“We celebrate every aspect of the city through art, no location is left unsung” says Pratheek Sudhakaran, an architect, who founded the Kochi chapter of Urban Sketchers(USk), in November 2020. Since then the group of 250 plein air artists from different walks of life have been sketching and painting different locations of Kochi.

A global community of artists, Urban Sketchers(USk) practise drawing on location they live in or travel to.

On July 17 USk Kochi was  recognized as an official regional chapter of the international USk community.When the group meets on July 23 they will launch a coffee table book of their art work –Exploring Kochi through Urban Sketchers–. A “Sketchopedition” planned for August 15, will have its members fan out to different locations in the city and sketch them. “We are also printing T shirts and an Urban Sketcher Kochi flag for the occasion,” adds Pratheek.

The chapter is part of a global network of Urban Sketchers headquartered in Seattle, US. The first Indian chapter was started in Pune in 2015 by architect and art enthusiast Sanjeev Joshi. The second was begun in Goa in 2017 by Darpana Athale, an architect who was part of USk Pune. The chapters have grown organically across India. Every chapter has three administrators who coordinate the working of that chapter.

“At present, there are 12 active chapters in India, In addition, there are 15 to 20 new groups that have been conducting sketch meets consistently in places such as Simla and Varanasi,” says Darpana, regional coordinator of the USk chapters in India.  A group has to sketch consistently for six months to become a part of Urban Sketchers International. It is all voluntary and there is no rigid hierarchy.

The artists sketch in situ for a fixed duration of time, which varies from 90 minutes to two-and-a-half hours. At the end of it, they come together to display their works and get-together for a peer review wherein inputs are given, there is a give- and-take of ideas and suggestions. Each meet is documented and shared on social media handles of individual chapters on facebook and Instagram.