Krap twee weken vóór het Symposium in Amsterdam werd Urban Sketchers Nederland benaderd om mee te werken aan een project van Tracy Metz. Tracy Metz – journalist uit Amsterdam – is oprichter van live talkshow en webmagazine Stadsleven.
Tracy hoorde over het Urban Sketchers Symposium en vroeg ons om drie schetsers te vinden die hun visie op de stad konden geven, aan de hand van tekeningen die ze in Amsterdam zouden maken, liefst in vergelijking met de stad waar ze zelf wonen.
Omdat het bestuur meer dan de handen vol had aan het symposium, hebben Anne Rose Oosterbaan en Linda Toolsema de vraag opgepakt.
Linda en Anne Rose hebben hard en snel gezocht (de meeste tekenaars waren hun koffer al aan het pakken) en drie schetsers gevonden die een eigen visie hebben op het stadsleven in het algemeen en op Amsterdam in het bijzonder: architect Karen Jones uit Manchester; kunstschilder Christiaan Afman uit Groningen; en teamlid van het volgende symposium in Hong Kong, Ben Luk.
De eerste bijdrage is van architect Karen Jones. Karen had op haar kantoor moeite met tekenen op de computer, ze vond dat het tekenen met de hand veel meerwaarde heeft tijdens het ontwerpproces. Hieronder haar boeiende verhaal.
Urban sketching: drawing is thinking
Urban Sketchers is a worldwide community of artists who draw on location in cities and towns. Their motto is ‘Show the world, one drawing at a time’. The tenth annual symposium took place this summer in Amsterdam. Three of the urban sketchers who attended were willing to share their work in the Stadsleven webmagazine: Karen Jones from Manchester, Christiaan Afman from Groningen and Ben Luk from Hong Kong.
by Karen Jones
I am Karen Jones, an architect and artist living and working in Manchester, England, specialising in housing design.
I have sketched en plein air since I was a child, introduced to it by my father, who was an engineer. I became an architect because all I wanted to do was draw – little did I realise that there was more to the job than just sketching! Clients respond well to hand-drawn drawings: they communicate a softness that computer drawings don’t.
I have become aware how little architects now draw by hand. Surely, then, they can’t see the world around them as well as architects used to. How will that affect the quality of the design of our built environment? With hand drawing, drawing is thinking and there is no computer slowing that creative connection between the hand and the mind.
Four years ago, I felt railroaded at the large firm where I worked into producing my work almost solely by computer. I felt so strongly that this skill should not be lost to architects that I left to pursue a life of more hand drawing. Fortunately, I think the current urban sketching movement sets a trend that has started to change things for the better.
The more I look, the more I see
Sitting on the pavement drawing buildings has been a longstanding pastime of mine. Until I learned of the Urban Sketching movement about five years ago, I thought I was the only person doing it!
By observation, I build up ideas and patterns in my mind that can inform my design. It also enhances my memory: I can remember not only what I have seen, but also what I have heard and smelt and who I have talked to during the sketch. It is a meditation, requiring a single-minded concentration, a complete present awareness. It makes me feel very alive.
The more I look, the more I see. I get to a point where I feel I am part of the scene I am drawing. A city is not just about the buildings, it is also about its inhabitants, the public spaces, the vegetation, the vehicles, the street furniture, the signage. I look for the grain, the patterns, their rhythm, the colour, the feel.
Tapestry of rusty red and grey
I was in Amsterdam four years ago on my first urban sketching workshop. This time I was delighted yet again by the human scale of the city – it seems like a very large village.
I was also struck by the many towers and spires. They serve as focal points in this flat land. The rooftop view is a tapestry of rusty red and grey; the tramlines above the street add a graphic style to my drawings, helping to stitch the composition together. And the city is so green! There are many breathing spaces in the city and there are trees wherever space allows. Fronts of the townhouses are adorned with beautiful planting which softens the built environment and allows a small amount of personal space between the public and private domain.
Amsterdam is a captivating city. It feels like a very sociable city, where everything is compact and connected. Is it the built city that shapes its inhabitants, or vice versa?
Dit artikel is overgenomen van de site Stadsleven.
De talkshow Stadsleven ‘De stad als canvas’ vindt plaats op op 26 september in Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. Meer informatie over de tijden en het programma vind je op de site van Stadsleven onder het kopje ‘Talkshow’.
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