TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Urban sketchers: Documenting the beauty of city life through pencils and paintbrushes
Communities of urban sketchers bring together people who share an interest in documenting the beauty of urban lives and places through sketching.
Change Size
Arif setiawan, a member of urban sketcher community Indonesian Sketcher, sketches in Bank Indonesia Museum on Sept 28. (JP/Nina Loasana)
U
nder the scorching Saturday afternoon sun, dozens of people were seen sitting on a sidewalk in front of Bank Indonesia Museum holding sketchbooks, busily drawing and painting the heritage building.
The people are members of urban sketcher communities, who share an interest in documenting the beauty of urban lives and places through sketching.
“Sketching urban environments is very interesting because we’re not only documenting the places, but also the interactions between people, the emotions and the experience of living in a city,” Artyan Trihandono, a member of the Sketchwalker community, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Artyan, who works as an architect, said he started urban sketching five years ago, however Sketchwalker itself was established 10 years ago.
Sketchwalker, he said, regularly set up joint sketching events for its members and held exhibitions. “We usually sketch together once a month. Each event has a different theme, like sketching architectural heritage, public transportation or sketching while traveling. We also hold exhibitions to display our artworks.”
Artyan said Sketchwalker had gained a lot of members from all over Indonesia, adding that it was open to anybody who had a passion for sketching. “We have a lot of members from different professions, like doctors, merchants and even students. Last year, we organized urban sketching events in several provinces in Indonesia, including on Bali, where around 600 sketchers joined the event.”
He said he had also taken part in a lot of urban sketching events organized by other communities. He traveled to several cities in Indonesia and other countries to sketch with other urban sketcher communities. Next week, he will go to Hanoi, Vietnam, to meet up with urban sketchers from all around Asia.
