Sketchcrawl 14 and auction a grand success!

I'm a little behind on my post but here it is. Coit Tower, Sketchcrawlers lazer sighted on their targets.

Hurrah! Congratulations to all who participated in Sketchcrawl 14 and auction benefiting Emergency. There was such an air of anticipation on the Saturday crawl, our Emergency reps were there to send us off and hand out information to all about the Emergency mission. The hike to and up the Filbert Steps is always invigorating, I love seeing the reaction of people who've not been before. It is so worth climb. The Coit Tower perch offers quite a view but as always the best targets are fellow crawlers--they stay so still as they draw.


We were over 80 strong! We looked like protest rally, all we needed were placards.

We ended up at in China town after a lunch break at Washington Square. The last hour of the crawl that afternoon is our traditional sharing of the sketchbooks. My favorite part because we see so many styles and modes of expression. It's all great. Thanks for sharing, everyone.

AUCTION TIME! Sunday. The crowd started arriving promptly at five and with the array of over 90 pieces of artwork to choose from it was tough--you can want a lot, you know. I personally bid on about ten pieces. It was fun and, as anticipated, competition was fierce.


One highlight of the night was a sketch of Carmen Ngai I did on the spot and taped next to the framed works. It immediately started getting bids! My thanks to Carmen for being such a good sport.

The frenzy kicks in as the clock is counted down to the end of bidding. Man, there was some stiff man-to-artwork guarding going on. Derek Thompson did a great job as M.C. and Mike Murnane carried it all home as auction master bringing the final bids on the most contested pieces to their final higher bids. I won master Tadahiro Uesugi's framed beauty as well as Manuel Arenas'. See my happy mug in Sho Murase's blog here.


Marshalling sketchrawlers through our whole day trek is fun, though I did do less drawings this time. I promise to get more done next time.

Our thanks to all who participated on both days as well as everyone who contributed to our fundraiser. We appreciate all your help and it sure was a fun way to help out for a good cause and we hope you had as grand a time as we had putting this all together. Special thanks to Maverix for being such a well-oiled and dedicated crew, it was so awesome to be working alongside you guys. Noelle Page and Carmen Ngai (Official Sketchcrawl Babes) for keeping us organized as well as always being there for us. Take a well deserved bow, everyone!

See you all at the next Sketchcrawl!

___________

For a full report visit Enrico's blog for more details on both days here, here, and here.

Emergency
Maverix Studios
Sketchcrawl 14 Forum

Fantastic photos by Bosco Ng here.

14th World Wide SketchCrawl and Emergency

Please watch Gino Strada talk about his work for Emergency in this video

Drawing with a purpose. A two-part fundraiser from your friendly neighborhood Sketchcrawl community. First, on May 19, 2007 Sketchcrawl 14 lends a hand to help Emergency with its mission around the world.

Emergency Mission Statement. In today’s conflicts 90 percent of the victims are civilians. Every year war takes the lives of millions of people worldwide. Emergency provides free of charge, high standard medical and surgical care in war-torn areas.

Emergency promotes a culture of peace, solidarity and respect of human rights.

Emergency is an independent, neutral and nonpolitical humanitarian organization established to provide care to civilian victims of war and of land mines. All Emergency facilities are designed, built and managed by specialized international staff committed to training local medical personnel.

Gabriele, is a logistician from Venice on a mission for Afghanistan with the humanitarian aid organization Emergency. After 25 years in local construction, Gabriele Gorup de Besanez from Dorsoduro, a village near Venice, has put his professional expertise to the service of Gino Strada’s organization Emergency. His quote below:

"In Kurdistan there was an old man whose arm had been torn apart by a firearm. He wanted an estimate for medical treatment costs before coming to our hospital as he didn't want to burden his family with debt. It took quite a bit to assure him that Emergency's services were free of charge. He couldn't believe it."

The Sketchcrawl 14 Mission. We have an opportunity to make a difference on our day of celebrating drawing outdoors. For one thing we do this anyway and have a jolly ol' time. But add this layer to it: We can ask people to sponsor our day of drawing by making a contribution, much like your Aids Ride or other marathons in support of a good cause. Enrico's got a form for it and everything. You can hand that to your friends and neighbors and ask them to donate how ever much they can, your goal being that you want to raise $100 in total for that day. Kinda like wishing you a good day of drawing and giving aid to people who needs our help.


Sketchcrawlers the world over love to congregate outdoors and draw the heck out of that day. Doesn't matter if you don't draw and just want to walk with us. We end up drawing people from the crawl a lot anyway. Bring a hat, they're easy to draw. Heh.

But Wait! There's more! The very next day, Sun May 20th, we have an ART AUCTION! This second part of the fundraiser, done in partnership with the marvelous folks at Maverix Studios.

where: Maverix Studios (1717 17th Street, SF)
when: 5pm to 9pm
how: silent bidding, Final bids at 7:30pm.
We will also have a benefit raffle with special prices.

A few of the confirmed artists:

Steve Purcell (author of Sam and Max)
Rhode Montijo (author of Pablo’s inferno and Cloud Boy
Pierre Alary (author of Belladonne)
Dice Tsutsumi (contributor to Out of Picture)
Ronnie del Carmen (Paper Biscuit)
Bill Presing (author of Rex Steele Nazi smasher)
Derek Thompson (of Derek Monster fame)
Scott Morse (author of Noble Boy, Souldwind, The Barefoot Serpent and more)
and many more are joining in this effort, we’ll keep you updated on this growing list of great artists.

So, remember those dates May 19, 2007 Enrico and I will be meeting all you generous sketchcrawl artists in San Francisco, at the Ferry Building at The Embarcadero, 11:00am (in front of Peet’s coffee). Sketchbook, pencils and waterbrushes on hand. A good day of drawing for a good cause. Then on May 20th it's at Maverix Studios. Have a grand time!

________________________________

Emergency
Maverix Studios
Sketchcrawl 14 Forum

Care to donate to Emergency directly? Please do so here: Emergency Paypal

Help us spread the word. Enrico's has some press releases. Good for newspapers, magazines and radio folks. You know you're out there, we can use the publicity. Press Releases

Here's what the form looks like. Hand it to your prospective sponsors so they can lend us a hand. Click on the image to get to the pdf.