February 1, 2020 Sketchout

Thanks to Yvonne Rezek for organizing this sketchout:

On Saturday February 1st we will be sketching from 11am to 1pm at Greenland Garden Centre,with lunch and sharing sketches to follow at 1pm at Greenland’s Branches Cafe.

Greenland Garden Centre is a hidden gem of a greenhouse located a little east of Edmonton on Highway 16 and Clover Bar Road (23108 Highway 16). After a bout of close to absolute zero temperatures, I think a sketching getaway to a greenhouse is just what we could use. Right? So let’s meet up at the usual time and sketch greenery, flowers, shoppers, and general greenhouse surroundings. If it’s decent outside weather-wise, you can also choose to sketch the exterior.

If you have one, bring a stool but the usual caveats applies. Don’t sit (or stand) in the way of shoppers 😉

From 1:00-2:00, we’ll meet up at Branches, the delightful in-house bistro/cafe. Branches doesn’t take reservations.

For more info, go to http://www.greenlandgarden.com

Sketching History: The Artists Part 1

 I am writing a series of posts featuring the twelve Urban Sketchers Edmonton artists and a selection of their work from the exhibit Sketching History: Rediscovering Edmonton’s Architectural Heritage through Urban Sketching. Click on this link to the first post.

Molson Brewery. Sketch by Yvonne Rezek

 

Posted by Marlena Wyman

 

Sketching History catalogue

For those of you who have not seen the catalogue yet that accompanies the Urban Sketchers Edmonton exhibit “Sketching History”, you can see a preview of it here.

The catalogues are available through the City of Edmonton Archives.

Please come and explore the exhibit, which is up through December 2020:

Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre and Edmonton City Archives
10440 – 108 Ave
Mondays to Fridays 8:30am to 4:30pm and Wednesdays til 8pm

Ring the buzzer on the outside door to be let into the building.

Posted by Marlena Wyman

 

January 11, 2020 Sketchout

Thanks to Yvonne Rezek for planning this sketchout!

NOTE: We are meeting on a different date and time than usual.

Happy New Year! Happy New Decade! Let’s celebrate by joining in and sketching the glorious mayhem of the 13th annual Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival! Let’s embrace our northern climate by sketching some of the stories of our winter culture and heritage. Deep Freeze spans five blocks on 118 Avenue from 95th Street east to 90th Street and events kick-off at 12:00 pm. Free admission but donations are welcome.

We’ll meet at the front door of the Carrot Community Arts Coffeehouse (9351 118 Ave) at noon on Saturday January 11th.

During Deepfreeze, the Carrot removes its table to accommodate more chairs as it is a major venue for music and performance. Therefore, we won’t be meeting there after the sketch out as I had initially planned.  I suggest we meet at The Hearth inside Alberta Avenue Community League 9210 118 Ave. It will be busy but if you get there first, please try to save a table for the rest of us. Ukrainian food is on the menu! The venue will also provide additional opportunity for sketching!

Street parking is available where permitted, but you may have to walk a a block or two to three to get to to the festival. Parking lots are at 117 Ave and 95 St and at the ATB at 118 Ave and 88 St.

Saturday will be Ukrainian Cultural Day. If you want to plan locations and events for sketches ahead of time, the schedule of festival events is located at http://www.deepfreezefest.ca

 

Downtown Farmers’ Market, 7 December 2019

We went to sketch the Edmonton Downtown Farmers’ Market, finally open and bustling in the former historic Great Western Garment Company Building (GWG) at 10305-97 Street. The building was built in 1911 and in 1914 it housed GWG until 1955. It subsequently served as the Army and Navy Department Store and, for a brief time, the Red Strap Art Market, before sitting empty for a number of years.

Sketch by Marlena Wyman

Sketch by Julie Daly

There were ten urban sketchers at the Downtown Farmers’ Market on Saturday. We had a lot of curious shoppers asking what we were doing so we talked to them about urban sketching and about the exhibit.

Sketch by Marlena Wyman

Sketch by Julie Daly

In 1903, the Rice Street Market was first established by the Town of Edmonton’s Council. Located at Market Square, now the site of the Stanley A. Milner Library. For a time it was known as The City Market, and in the mid-1960s, the Edmonton Downtown Farmers Market (EDFM) relocated to 97th St to make way for the construction of the city library.

Sketch by Merts Belmes

Sketches by Karen Wall

In 2004, the EDFM moved outdoors to 104th Street. And starting in 2011, it was inside City Hall in the winter months. In its present location, it is open year-round on Saturdays and Sundays.

Sketches by Brenda Raynard

We got together for a great lunch afterward at The Nook, which I forgot to photograph, but it is a fabulous little café located in the old 97 Street Farmers’ Market building.

Posted by Marlena Wyman

Sketching History on Treaty 6 Territory

Another post about Urban Sketchers Edmonton’s exhibit Sketching History: Rediscovering Edmonton’s Architectural Heritage through Urban Sketching, curated by Marlena Wyman. This one explores the history of Edmonton on Treaty 6 Territory.

Sketch by Karen Wall of Faculty of Native Studies, Pembina Hall, University of Alberta, 2011

 

Posted by Marlena Wyman

 

Edmonton City Hall, 2 November 2019

City Hall was our sketching subject after having to make a last minute switch from our planned sketchout at the Downtown Farmers Market, temporarily shut down again due to permit issues. (It is now open and we will be sketching there on December 7^th!) So I think we lost a few sketchers, but an undaunted crew still showed up.

Sketch by Angie Sotiropoulos

Sketch by Marlena Wyman

Sketch by Sarah Lees-Miller

Sketch by Brenda Raynard

Sketch by Sue Jackson

Karen took an outdoor wander and included the new Stanley Milner Library in her sketch.

Sketch by Karen Wall

And Angie captured Yong Fei-Guan’s “Golden Pig” sculpture.

Sketch by Angie Sotiropoulos

The present City Hall was built on the same site as the 1957 City Hall, which only survived for 33 years before it was demolished. Today’s City Hall was designed by Edmonton architect Gene Dub and opened in 1992. It incorporated some of the original building’s marble and granite as well as the Canada goose “Migrants” statue and fountain by Lionel A.J. Thomas which was kept on-site.

Posted by Marlena Wyman