Urban Sketch

Urban Sketch with Christian Breed

Urban Sketch with Christian Breed

Cost: $560.00

Instructor: Christian Breed

8 Sessions: Saturdays, June 5, July 31, skipping July 3 

9:00 AM–12:00 PM

Various outdoor locations around upper Manhattan. 

REGISTRATION opens on May 4.

This class is limited to 12 students.

Get to know a different side of New York through your sketchbook this summer: from architecture to the parks and nature, we will explore the urban spaces around us through drawing. Students will learn to use a wide array of techniques, ranging from graphite to Chinese inks, in order to travel deeply into the spaces of the city. Each week, we will look at the drawing techniques of a different master for reference, ranging from Van Gogh’s drawings and Seurat’s pointillism to Matisse’s line drawings and Constructivist geometries. Over the course of the summer, we will discover how these techniques can be applied to your own drawing in order to bring out what engages you about the city. We will meet in spaces such as Grant’s Tomb, Morningside Park, and Fort Tryon Park. Each lesson will be accompanied by a video regarding the artist and technique of that week, and we will finish each class with a group discussion of everyone’s work. Rainy days will be spent in museums. Students will learn to work with a wide range of compositions across many locations that encompass tight urban spaces and wider, more sweeping aerial views. This course is for draughtspeople of all levels. 

Required Materials

  • Strathmore 24 x 18 inch drawing pad
  • Graphite stick
  • Conte Crayon
  • Gum eraser
  • Hard-edged eraser
  • Chinese Ink
  • Brush
  • Water container
  • Clipboard (optional)

Week One: 
Location: Grant’s Tomb (Riverside Drive and 122nd Street)
Materials: Pen and Ink
Artist of Reference: Henri Matisse

Week Two: 
Location: Fort Tryon Park/ The Cloisters
Materials: Chinese Ink
Artist of Reference: Vincent Van Gogh

Week Three: 
Location: Conservatory Garden (5th Avenue and 105th Street) 
Materials: Conte crayon
Artist of Reference: Georges Seurat

Week Four: 
Location: Morningside Park
Materials: graphite
Artist of Reference: Frank Auerbach

Week Five: 
Location: Marcus Garvey Park
Materials: mixed media
Artist of Reference: Jean Dubuffet 

Week Six: 
Location: FDR Park
Materials: mixed media
Artist of Reference: Wayne Thiebaud

Week Seven:
Location: Carl Schurz Park
Materials: mixed media
Artist of Reference: Fernand Leger

Week Eight:
Location: Tudor City Greens (43rd Street)
Materials: mixed media
Artist of Reference: Martin Wong
 

Course Code: DRAWUS

Instructor(s): Christian Breed

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.