Get Out and Sketch, Santa Barbara

The New York Times called the organization a “grassroots hub for sketchers.” With more than 500 chapters in 70 countries, Urban Sketchers (USk) is more like a phenomenon. And Santa Barbara is on its way toward becoming one of USk’s newest chapters. 

To the uninitiated, urban sketching is often defined as drawing on location, capturing a specific time and place. “It’s quick,” explained Brandon Teris, a member of the group and teacher at Santa Barbara High’s Visual Arts and Design Academy (VADA). “Since I teach art, I sort of have to do it all, but my favorite is urban sketching,” Teris said. “It’s one, two, three hours max … trying to capture a scene.” 

That rhythm, where “you have to make decisions fast,” said Santa Barbara USk founder Michael Gerber, is one of urban sketching’s more defining characteristics. But in this group setting, it’s also about community ― people, strangers really, coming together to celebrate the beauty of their surroundings. “We just want everybody out there to go and draw what you see,” said Judith Dollar, a North America coordinator for the nonprofit.

Since 2023, when Gerber formed the online group “Santa Barbara Urban Sketchers,” it has grown tenfold. And it’s expected to expand even more. With an endless array of spaces to sketch in our beautiful city — from Stow House to Solstice — and rules that stipulate the nearest USk chapter must be 50 miles away (the next closest group, Los Angeles Urban Sketchers, has roughly 6,000 members), things are only looking up.

The group meets the first and third Saturday of every month, and according to Gerber, roughly eight to 12 members show up each session. Without mandating experience level or medium (members can work on paper or digital devices), it truly is about soaking in the moment. “I love to travel, and I just like to plant myself somewhere for a couple hours and really soak it in,” said Teris. “Sketching is the perfect medium to do that.”

What began as a little side project to keep himself busy following retirement, Gerber has turned his three-year romance with art into something much more. An extended learning student at Santa Barbara City College, Gerber fell in love with watercolor painting during the pandemic; eventually, he learned about urban sketching while at an artist workshop in Arizona. “I’d never had any art lessons,” said the former UCSB professor. “I only knew the colors in a Crayola box.”

Eventually he recruited about eight of his SBCC classmates, including admins Teena Grant and Susan Stanfield, with the ultimate goal of qualifying as an official Urban Sketchers chapter. “I know Santa Barbara is very anxious to get designated,” said Dollar, a Texas-based graphic designer and founding member of Houston USk. “It does feel like they’ll be able to get designated fairly quickly, because they have been active and following a lot of the protocols,” she said. 

USk was founded in 2007 by Gabriel Campanario, a Seattle-based illustrator. Two years later, the online forum turned blog became a nonprofit and eventually hosted an international symposium for urban sketchers. Today, applications to become a chapter come in almost daily from all over the globe. The comradery is something that can be found no matter what location you choose to sketch in, said Dollar. “I never come across someone in a bad mood,” she noted.   

The group’s manifesto ensures that everyone is welcome. Individual styles are supported, drawings are shared, and each piece is a reflection of a time and place: “We are truthful to the scenes we witness,” they state. That sentiment really appealed to Gerber. “[The group] not only is a nurturing experience for the sketchers, but it’s also about being for and by the community,” he said. “You’re documenting what’s interesting and meaningful to the community you live in.”