Last Friday the Salford Museum and Art Gallery hosted the opening night of their ‘One Drawing at a Time’ Urban Sketching Exhibition.
The free exhibition showcases over eighty pieces from the Manchester Urban Sketchers Group, capturing parts of Manchester and Salford to commemorate ten years of Urban Sketching.
Urban Sketching started in Seattle 2007 and has since become a global phenomenon with groups being set up all over the world.
Architect and Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Simone Ridyard founded the Manchester group five years ago after she stumbled across Urban Sketching online, and trying it out first hand on a teacher-exchange in Singapore.
“The great thing about it was rather than just seeing stuff online, It meant I actually went and sketched with a group and saw how they did it,” said Simone.
Simone added, “Move five years on, the first time we went out I organised it through Manchester School of Art, we had about eight people sketching, now we regularly get thirty-forty people!”
The Manchester Urban Sketchers Group was invited by Salford Museum and Art Gallery to tell their stories of the two cities through their drawings.
Exhibitions officer Amy Goodwin said, “Manchester and Salford’s changing all the time, there’s so much redevelopment at the moment and sketching is just a different way of capturing it.”
“It’s much more personal than a photograph, it’s in somebody’s style so they can bring out the things that are important to them.”
WATCH – Urban Sketcher Len Grant talks through his pieces
The sketchers drawings all varied in their outcome with some opting to add watercolours and others deciding to stick with the original lines from the pens.
However not ot all of the sketchers were fortunate enough to have their pieces showcased and their work had to be selected by a special panel to determine what pieces would make it to the gallery.
Many of the sketchers who’s was on show had no previous background in art or drawing but learnt through joining the Manchester Urban Sketchers Group.
WATCH – Liz Ackerley’s Introduction to Urban Sketching
The exhibition will run until the 10th June and is suitable for all ages.
If you’d like to get involved with the sketchers go to their Facebook page.
For more information on Urban Sketching go to – http://www.urbansketchers.org/
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