2023 Guest Artists
Andika Murandi
Andika’s love for sketching started when he studied architecture in Indonesia. As a practicing architect, he always tries to find time to keep his passion of hand drawing and sketching alive. He goes to different local coffee shops every Friday morning for his weekly sip ‘n sketch session. Good mocha and a sketch go so well together. Andika uses his sketches to capture the essence of place and time, using simple pen, marker, pencil, or digital media. He works in downtown Seattle and lives with his wife, two daughters and a cat in Bothell.
David Chamness
David Chamness is a licensed architect, an artist, and an urban sketcher. Designing large commercial projects in the PNW for 40 years during the work week and using hand sketching as a tool to communicate ideas with colleagues / clients. He studied at the University of Washington and received his Master of Architecture from University of Michigan. He has been sketching/watercolor painting for the last 35-plus years around the Pacific Northwest and on his travels abroad. Most of his art is created on location, enjoying the variety of sights, scenes, and experiences of different places. He is a native Washingtonian and has lived with family in Shoreline for the past 30 years.
Eleanor Doughty
Eleanor Doughty is an artist and educator based in Seattle, USA. As a full-time freelance illustrator, she creates art for commercial clients centering around locations, architecture, and the stories they tell. Her clients include the Downtown Seattle Association, Hilton, Kroger/QFC, the Seattle Times, Stanford University, and VICE Media. Her graphic novel “K’s Car Can Go Anywhere!” was published by Penguin Books in 2022. Eleanor has taught numerous sketching workshops both at home and abroad, including at the 2019 Urban Sketchers Symposium in Amsterdam, and both youth and adult classes at Gage Academy in Seattle. She also enjoys animated films, riding her 180cc scooter through the quiet roads of the PNW, and befriending local crows.
Frank Ching
Author, Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, and avid sketcher, especially during travels abroad. Will be exhibiting a series of journals kept during teaching stints at the University of Washington’s Rome Center.
Gabi Campanario
Spanish-born journalist, illustrator and author Gabriel “Gabi” Campanario is best known for his storytelling sketches of the Seattle area —which appeared weekly in The Seattle Times between 2009 and 2021; and for his role as the founder of Urban Sketchers, a global organization of artists who aim to “show the world, one drawing at a time” through on-location sketching and reportage. He is the author of Seattle Sketcher: An Illustrated Journal, and The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing On Location Around the World. In 2022, Campanario launched Sketcher Press, a publishing imprint to amplify the work of urban sketchers and reportage artists.
Gail Wong
Gail is an architectural illustrator, retired architect and part time Lecturer at the University of Washington. Gail has kept sketchbooks throughout her architectural education and professional career, but started travel sketching in 2009. She has been actively involved in Urban Sketchers as a sketcher, then in leadership roles as Seattle Admin, Education Committee member, Workshop instructor and on the Executive Board for Urban Sketchers. She has participated in several Urban Sketching symposiums and has taught many workshops. Her work has been published in many Urban Sketching handbooks and recently co-authored “The Urban Sketching Handbook: Spotlight on Nature” (2022) with friend and fellow sketcher Virginia Hein.
Jane Wingfield
Jane started sketching on location in 2009 when she joined the fledgling Seattle Urban Sketchers at a gathering at a sketch outing in Volunteer Park. Since then, she has been sketching non-stop and volunteering with Urban Sketchers in Seattle and internationally. She currently co-edits the quarterly newsletter, Drawing Attention. The practice of sketching on location for over 12 years has given her the gumption to pull out her sketchbook and start sketching just about anywhere. “Travel sketching is the best! It’s not only inspiring, memorable, and endlessly entertaining, it also provides the best souvenirs!”
Mário Linhares
A lecturer in Drawing, he dedicates himself to travel diaries and reportage drawing. He regularly participates at conferences and exhibitions and contributes to books on drawing around the world. Publications: Diário de Viagem | Costa do Marfim (2014); Panoramas and Vertical Vistas (2021); Lisboa Moderna (2021).
Melanie Reim
Melanie Reim is an award-winning illustrator with a sketchbook never far from her side. Reim retired from FIT as Associate Dean and Professor, School of Art and Design. She is a Fulbright Scholar, and Distinguished Educator, Society of Illustrators in NY. Her reportage illustration has been featured in numerous articles and books. Her documentary work is part of the Air Force Art Collection in the Pentagon, Washington, DC.
Nishant Jain
Nishant Jain is an artist, writer, and podcaster. He walks around cities with a sketchbook and draws human activity in public spaces. Every week he shares his art and observations with thousands of readers on his bestselling Substack publication. As the host of the SneakyArt Podcast, he has deep, long-form conversations with artists who draw from observation of their environment. Recently, Nishant was the official artist-in-residence with TransLink, as part of a program to bring art and culture to Vancouver’s public transit.
Rita Sabler
Rita Sabler is a visual journalist, artist, and educator based in Portland, Oregon, USA. She teaches Drawing, Urban Sketching and Visual Journalism courses at the Parsons School of Design, Pacific Northwest College of Art, and Portland State University. She also works on a variety of freelance illustration and visual reportage projects. Rita Sabler serves as the Education Director on the board of the global Urban Sketchers organization. Rita has presented numerous lectures and workshops around the world inspiring diverse audiences to cultivate a lifelong passion for urban sketching and reportage illustration. Her work has been featured in solo and group local and international shows. Rita holds a B.A. degree in Psychology and Art, an M.A. in Linguistics, and a Masters in Interface Design from The Elisava School of Design in Barcelona. She is currently working on an advanced degree in Journalism. Rita Sabler’s reportage on the Kalaupapa settlement has won Doctors without Borders Coup De Coeur and International Sketchbook Prize at the 2019 Rendez-Vous Du Carnet De Voyage in Clermont-Ferrand. Rita’s main areas of interest are Reportage Illustration, Travel Sketching, and Visual Storytelling, but she is often seen on street corners capturing busy markets, festivals, protestors, musicians, and regular citizens living their life in both ordinary and extraordinary ways. When not drawing or teaching she is a busy parent and a tango pianist.
Stephanie Bower
Seattle-based Stephanie Bower worked as a licensed Architect in New York City before gravitating to professional architectural illustration and concept design. She taught for over thirty years, in New York City at Parsons School of Design and in Seattle at the University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts. Stephanie is thrilled to be living her life-long dream as a globe-trotting instructor and urban sketcher! She has taught at 7 USk Symposiums, has two online sketching classes, and teaches perspective and watercolor workshops around the world. Her awards include the prestigious Gabriel Prize fellowship in architecture to Paris, the Civita Institute’s fellowship to Italy, and she was twice honored with “Best Travel Sketch” in the KRob international architectural delineation competition. Stephanie’s work has been featured in Watercolor Artist and Artist magazines, and she is the best-selling author of several books on sketching including THE URBAN SKETCHING HANDBOOK: UNDERSTANDING PERSPECTIVE, THE URBAN SKETCHING HANDBOOK: 101 SKETCHING TIPS, as well as the recent sketching tour around the globe, THE WORLD OF URBAN SKETCHING (2022).
Sue Heston
I have, really, been drawing since I was a kid. I studied art in college, where I learned the fundamental skills of drawing but never considered it as an end in itself. I was interested in printmaking, and saw drawing as a tool for working out composition and design problems. Years later, I saw the drawings of Gabi Campanario in the Seattle newspaper and it changed my whole outlook on drawing. I realized there was great stuff to be drawn everywhere and began use my sketchbooks in a whole new way. In 2013 I got up the nerve to join the Seattle Urban Sketchers and it’s been a part of my life ever since!
Sunil Shinde
Sunil Shinde has been an ardent urban sketcher since 2013 and is a correspondent for the Urban Sketchers blog, urbansketchers.org. He is the author of a bestselling illustrated travel memoire “From Cairo to Beirut” which traces his journey along ancient trade routes through Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Israel and Lebanon. Over the last twenty years, Sunil has travelled to over thirty countries, tracing stories of history, religion and culture. When he isn’t travelling, he is dreaming of travelling. He is also building an AI-based population health product in stealth mode. He lives in a cottage in the woods in Redmond, WA, with his wife, two daughters and their golden retriever, Oscar.
Virginia Hein
Virginia Hein is from Los Angeles, California, and she teaches sketching workshops in her hometown and other locations. A long-time urban sketcher, she has been honored to teach at four international Urban Sketchers Symposiums, and the upcoming Auckland Symposium. She has contributed her work to a number of books and other publications about location sketching. Her book “5 Minute Sketching Landscape”, was published in 2017, and she co-authored “The Urban Sketching Handbook Spotlight on Nature” with Gail L. Wong in 2022.