Pad, pen or paint in hand, 'Urban Sketchers' document the people and places of the Twin Cities

It was one week before Christmas and Rosedale Center buzzed with shoppers and twinkling holiday displays.

Amid the bustle, it would be easy to miss people perched at tables and on benches at the Roseville mall, pen in hand, committing the scenes to sketchbook paper.

Some drew storefronts, while others sketched the columns and light fixtures that line the mall's atrium. Others focused on people — families taking photos with holiday décor or a pair in conversation over coffee.

Urban Sketchers Twin Cities meets regularly at coffee shops, museums and parks across the metro, recording places both ordinary and grand.

"What I love about urban sketching is being able to learn more about the Twin Cities, and not just the Twin Cities but about culture and people and places," said Heather Hultgren, a group administrator.

When they're done, the artists lay down their sketchbooks and admire each others' work.

"There's a lot of oohs and ahs," said Lori Tolonen, an administrator and organizer of weekday meetups. "It's amazing what people will pull out of one place, how they see it and how they interpret it, from full-blown detail sketches to vignettes."

A global community

Urban Sketchers began in 2007 as a global community of sketchers posting their work on the internet. The idea is to record time and place through on-location drawing, "show[ing] the world, one drawing a time."

Before long, real-life chapters started popping up. "People were building such amazing community online, they said, 'Hey, we want to meet each other and do this in real life together,'" said Amber Sausen, an architect and a Twin Cities group administrator. Now, there are chapters in nearly 500 cities in more than 70 countries.

Sausen was drawn to urban sketching as a way to use skills she learned in architecture school.

"I'm an architect, and there's a history within architecture, pre-camera, of traveling the world and sketching the sites and the buildings to learn how to be a better architect," she said. Not wanting to lose the skill, she sketched when traveling, later finding a community in Urban Sketchers.

While urban sketchers work to document the scenes they see, it's different from photography, emphasizing not only the architecture of a place, but its character and how it makes the sketcher feel, Sausen said.

"While you're drawing, you are aware of the physical sensation of whatever you're sitting on. Are you sitting in a cold breeze or under the hot sun? Or what are you hearing? What are you smelling?" she said. "All of those senses get embedded in the sketch itself."

Sausen said she can look back at sketches from the past 20 years and remember the music that was playing in the plaza or how jetlagged she was at the time.

Welcome to all

While the group is popular with artists and architects, it's by no means exclusive. No experience is needed and there's no cost to participating, Tolonen said. Newbies are asked to bring a sketchbook and something to draw with — different sketchers use different mediums, from pen and ink to gouache paint and watercolors. Seasoned sketchers may offer to sit with new participants, and some attendees bring their kids.

In the Twin Cities group, weekday meetups are typically smaller, but weekend gatherings can attract dozens of participants.

With limited time — events typically last two or three hours — sketchers can't draw every detail. Clara Emma said she likes to focus on what drew her to her subject, using lines to suggest movement or detail.

She starts by drawing shapes that make the rough outline of her subject, marking the scale before filling in nuance as she goes. As in life, she said, it's important not to sweat mistakes.

The Twin Cities group often welcomes sketchers from across the country and around the world, and its members seek out sketchers when they travel, too, Tolonen said.

"It creates this great tapestry. Wherever you go, you can find a sketch group," she said. That's not only a good way to find interesting places to visit, but a way to meet locals.

Vishnu Vardhan, an architect, got involved in urban sketching with a group documenting his hometown of Nagpur, India. Now working in the United States, he meets up with groups as he travels, and his sketchbook includes drawings from meetups in Chicago; Boston; Edmonton, Alberta; and other cities.

"Everyone is documenting in their own way, which I think is absolutely fantastic," he said, sketching architectural features of the mall. "Wherever I go, I stopped taking photographs, and I aim at least to draw one sketch from the place."

Urban Sketchers Twin Cities will meet again at noon Jan. 19 at the University of Minnesota Conservatory and Botanical Collection, 1534 Gortner Av., St. Paul. Group members' drawings documenting the Bakken Museum collections will be on display from Jan. 7 to May 1 at the museum, 3537 Zenith Av. S. in Minneapolis.