Urban Sketch is a new drawing exhibition taking place at The Art Department in Paisley throughout May, featuring work by artists from the Glasgow Urban Sketchers group, and entries from an open call to any artist working in drawing and sketching.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of workshops dedicated to sketching and drawing, led by Liz Reid, Marcer Campbell, Fiona Fleming, Russell MacEwan and Eoghann MacColla, who will be looking at architecture, mapping, perspective drawing and exploring materials and techniques.
An element of the exhibition will be Sketch Live, where work made on the day of the workshops from in and around the town can be shown as they emerge.
The show takes place at The Art Department’s building in the centre of Paisley; Creative Director Steven Thomson has said, ‘This brand-new exhibition for The Art Department has in its first outing given us some wonderful representations of well-known Paisley and Glasgow landmarks. Alongside that, some quirky and dark portraiture, a few famous faces and some wonderfully humorous colourful drawings. Featuring just over 100 works, visitors can also enjoy a month-long programme of workshops covering all aspects of drawing, sketching, working in many different materials. We invite visitors to view Paisley with fresh eyes.’
Liz Reid from Glasgow Urban Sketchers, commented, ‘It’s perfect timing that the start of the Urban Sketch exhibition coincides not just with International Urban Sketchers Week (1-7th May) but with the Glasgow Urban Sketchers group becoming an official chapter of the global urban sketching community – so it’s fantastic to be able to celebrate with some of our members’ work on display here in Paisley.
‘The group welcomes any age or skill level to join in, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people, share the community experience and fun of live sketching, and be inspired by another sketcher’s take on the same view. Suddenly you find yourself looking at your surroundings with fresh eyes! The exhibition workshops will be a great way to help beginners get started with on-location sketching and offer tips and techniques for seasoned sketchers too – and Paisley is the perfect place for it, with some stunning buildings and urban views right on The Art Department’s doorstep.’
Liz was brought up in Paisley, before moving to Dundee to study illustration and printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. After an extensive creative career in local government graphic design, she lives in the east end of Glasgow and works as a full-time artist from her studio base in Many Studios in the Barras. Liz specialises in drawing, with a particular interest in architectural subjects and urban street scenes – sketching people in cafés and bars, and capturing everyday views of city back lanes, tenements and graffiti. Liz is one of the main leads for the Glasgow Urban Sketchers group, organising regular meetups to sketch on location around the city. Liz’s drawing workshops for the exhibition will focus on Urban Sketching for any level of experience, covering fundamentals of perspective; techniques and tips for speed sketching on location; sketchbook kit and materials; and live sketch sessions.
Marcer Campbell is a practising artist who lives and works in Renfrewshire, Scotland. He received a BA Hons in Visual Communication (specialising in illustration) at Edinburgh College of Art. ‘As a visual artist my interests are varied. I studied Illustration to degree level, but at the same time developed a keen interest in the possibilities of combining music and visual art through multimedia animation. I have continued to pursue these disciplines, along with my chief interest in painting, ever since. Underpinning my love of visual art is a strong reliance upon the traditional rigor of drawing and composition; the artists I admire most have a fundamental command of the craft. One way or another my own creativity tends to find its roots in the immediate surroundings of day-to-day life; I also rely on art constantly to make sense of the world at large and my own place in it.
Eòghann MacColla is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose practice is connected to a participatory approach informing his work with people and in particular our care experienced children and young people. For many years he has worked within education and engagement, at every level as a visual artist, co-curating and producing creative spaces and equitable opportunities for people in their own communities and across communities. He has collaborated for many years with island folks of Arran and Cumbrae to support the arts and culture across genre and the disciplines of heritage, archaeology, environment and climate emergency. A Gàidhlig speaker, Eòghann is engaging with CHARTS Argyll around place-based residential work on Mull and in Kintyre. The focus of his practice is around place & situation, time & memory.
Russell MacEwan is an artist, educator and musician from Glasgow, a member of Ron Athey and Co, Test Dept and band leader in Black Sun. Urban sketching, comic art and storyboards are some of Russell’s favourite subjects to draw and paint. Get tips and hacks for getting dynamics and colour into your own sketches. Beginners and more experienced artists welcome. Friendly and sociable urban sketch sessions around some familiar – and possibly less familiar – locations in vibrant Paisley.
Fiona Fleming is a visual artist living in Govan. She has a working practise which has morphed over the years to span Urban Sketching and Painting and working with groups and organisations teaching arts and crafts, and she also does paint demonstrations. Her current obsession is night-time scenes and the way colour shifts in relative dark. Urban Sketching can be a meditative way to slow down in a busy world, with sketches having more investment and value than our overfull camera rolls – also meeting as a group lends a social aspect to creating art, which can sometimes be an isolating activity. I love the art of the everyday, and the chats I have with folk who want to ‘have a nosey’.
Workshops take place 12 – 3pm.
