Urban Sketchers Symposium Auckland report

As I am writing this, I can still feel the buzz and euphoria of being at the symposium.

This is my 5th Urban Sketchers Symposium. My first symposium was Barcelona 2013, followed by Singapore in 2015, Manchester in 2016, Amsterdam in 2019 and Auckland. Each symposium is special for the friends that I've made and the time spent together.

I was video correspondent for Singapore, Manchester, Amsterdam and Auckland. Hotel was covered for the duration of the symposium but the flights were not. I was told the instructors' flights were covered though which I can understand since they are bringing in the participants.

The video correspondent role is not a paid gig and I'm fine with that. Being a correspondent means you have an all-access pass to be everywhere, but not at the same time unfortunately. I truly enjoyed being a correspondent at the symposium, to hang out and sketch with my friends and to meet so many newcomers at the symposium and see their excitement.

The 11th Urban Sketchers Symposium was a success. As with all symposiums, it's an experience you will remember forever, not to mention the lifelong friends you have made along the way. There are newcomers who became instructors over the years. Strangers who I don't recognise in photos and videos made years ago are now my friends.

Location

The venue provided by the Auckland University of Technology is excellent. It's just one traffic light junction away from the hotel. I could go back to the hotel quickly to pick up something or take a quick nap. If you have to book hotels for the symposium, always book the hotel nearest to the hub if budget allows. Being able to refresh yourself or rest even for a short while in the afternoon is immensely helpful because the each day at the symposium is a long day.

The hub is actually inside the Sir Paul Reeves Building at the university. The place is spacious, has many chairs including sofas and a cafe that closes too early. This is such a nice place for sketchers to mingle after workshops and this is not unexpected because it's a university for designed for exchange of ideas. According to organiser Eric Ngan, this is actually the second choice venue. How is that even possible?

Management

Registration was so smooth. Registration was supposed to start at 3pm but when I was at the hub at 345pm, most participants had already collected their goodie bags and I wasn't able to record much footage of the action going on.

By the way, huge thanks to the Auckland volunteers for helping out with symposium, packing the goodie bags, guiding people to workshop or demo locations, manning the tables and just helping in whatever way possible. The volunteers work with shifts. There was one volunteer, Jackson, who had to work everyday because he had cover another volunteer who couldn't come. This is the commadarie that I see time and time again at the symposium, people helping each other out. And there's always a smile on the faces.

Here the volunteers were trying to chain up the stamps so that the sketchers won't take them away. I've been to several symposiums and people are not going to steal those stamps. They decided not to use the chains later on.

Workshops

The workshops are great, of course. How can they not be when you have instructors such as Maru Godas, Marina Grechanik, Rob Sketcherman, Eduardo Bajzek, Stephanie Bower, Virginia Hein, Jane Blundell, Oliver Hoeller, Richard Briggs and many more. The only problem is you can only take three workshops and 3 demos/lectures over the four days.

Going to the workshops is an intense experience. There's so much to take in and you also have to deal with the walking. A good long night's rest is highly recommended.

The video correspondent role

I love covering the Urban Sketchers Symposium as a correspondent. I make videos for sketchers who are not able to attend the symposium for whatever reason. These are the same videos I wish I could watch when I'm not at a symposium. It gives me joy and pleasure to be able to have other sketchers join us in spirit even if they cannot be with us on location. And when I watch the videos years later, the videos may have different meanings because the unknown strangers back then could be friends now.

Many asked if I have a system for covering the symposium. I don't. I usually just follow the workshop instructors who start moving off first. This year I was lucky to cover the outdoor workshops during good weather, and hence could cover indoor workshops when it was raining. If I am able to cover future symposiums, I would definitely cover outdoor workshops first whenever weather allows.

Having the hotel so close to the hub meant I could go back to the hotel after the workshop and lunch for rest and to edit my videos. Being able to to edit the videos in the afternoon meant that I could go to the Drink and Draw in the evening. I've always wanted to go to Drink and Draw sessions but I don't go to many if any because that would mean going back late, and I could only finish editing the video much later. On the last day of the symposium, I stayed up till 3am to edit the videos.

There was one day I was so tired in the afternoon, I took a quick nap and it helped so much.

Sponsor booths

There are so many wonderful sponsors at this symposium. Our premiere sponsors are Clairefontaine, Stillman & Birn, Blockx and Jacques Herbin. Other sponsors included Etchr Lab, Lechturm1917, French Art Shop, Gordon Harris, Faber Castell and many more. Huge thanks for all sponsors for providing the supplies that go into the goodie bags.

After the symposium

After the symposium, I stayed for three more days and was able to catch up with some sketching.

I was also able to catch up with some friends and had a fun time. Louisa and Rob Sketcherman recommend massage guns as essential non-essential sketching gears. And I tried the massage guns and they were so good.

Well, the Urban Sketchers Symposium for 2024 will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina, so it's quite unlikely for me to go since the travel time from Singapore is going to be at least 30 hours. That means I have to take leave for 4 days just for travelling alone. Oh, and the plane tickets are going to be so expensive.

To see all the photos I've taken in Auckland, visit this link.

And to see all the videos I've made, visit these links:

• Meeting old friends (day 1)
• Behind the scenes of setting up (day 2)
• Opening reception (day 3)
• Workshops and sponsors (day 4)
• More workshops, Drink & Draw (day 5)
• Closing (day 6)
• Why use a big sketchbook? (day 7)
• Last day of sketching in Auckland (day 8)
• Sketchbook tour