Baltimore-based architects Carlos Almeida (AECOM), Jerome Gray (Jerome C. Gray Architect), Eric J. Jenkins (University of Maryland), Omar Calderon Santiago (Perkins Eastman) and Gabriel Kroiz (Morgan State University) have organized a small group of sketchers called Baltimore SketchWorks. They invite everyone to help celebrate sketching and the architecture of Baltimore through sketching tours, lectures, and exhibitions. Their first initiative is once-a-month sketching workshops in and around Baltimore. While AIA Baltimore will release a complete schedule soon, the workshops will include “Light, Shade, and Depth” with Carlos Almeida and “Deciphering Building Design and History through Urban Sketching” with Jerome Gray.
These architects, with varied backgrounds, practices and career paths, believe in those the inherently human and universal qualities of sketching that link mind and body. While architects in the 21st century must embrace and use the most advanced digital technologies and tools, architects also know that there is a need for “both/and” thinking and working and that practice requires varied tools for varied situations. A sketch’s inaccuracies, mistakes, and “beautiful ugliness” not only allow for, but advances, the design search and connects us to one another. As architect Toshiko Mori notes, “I think the essential aspect of drawing [is that it creates] an immediate relationship between human beings; drawing survived everything. When I go to the world, 90% of places don’t have computers. So, to be able to interact with people, you have to draw. And then people can draw back. It’s still a universal language.”
Workshop 3 – Deciphering Building Design and History through Urban Sketching
Date: Saturday, March 25
Time: 10:00am – noon
Location: see sign-up information below
Bring: pens, pencils or watercolors along with sketch and/or watercolor paper
On Saturday morning, March 25th, Jerome Gray, AIA, will direct a sketching workshop called “Deciphering Building Design and History through Urban Sketching”. The meet-up– the third in the Baltimore SketchWorks monthly sketch sessions– will provide beginners and the more experienced with tools to use sketching and historic research resources to understand how buildings and places are designed and methods of documenting histories on online encyclopedias and social media (and to just enjoy creating art!).
Limited to 20 participants. To sign up and learn the exact meeting location, please email either Eric Jenkins (ericjenkinsarchitect@gmail.com) or Jerome Gray (jgray@jeromecgrayarchitect.com).
For more information, please see the group’s Instagram feed: baltimore_sketchworks or contact Eric Jenkins, AIA (ericjenkinsarchitect@gmail.com). They invite everyone to participate.