Montreal’s Tam Tams: Dip into the Counter Culture
Montreal has this thing they call the Tam Tams. It’s a free drumming circle, anyone can join, either as a drummer, or a dancer, or one of hundreds of fans just there to enjoy the music and the sun, and the people on display.
It’s a weekly event in the summer, every Sunday starting around noon, going till sundown. Just look for the George-Étienne Cartier Monument in Mount Royal Park (the big-angel-on-a-stick statue). You can’t miss the sound of the drums.
Seems like any instrument is cool, just join the cacophony. People bring all kinds of drums and percussion instruments. Everything from 4 foot tall carved wooden monsters to slick little hand drums made of fiberglass and mylar. Some guys have high tech body harnesses, some just sling their drum off a hemp rope. I also saw brass trombones, pan pipes, and a few things I didn’t recognize. There’s vendors nearby, you can buy finger cymbals or a tambourine if you want to join in. There are even belly dancing veils and jingling belts available, if that’s more your mode of expression.
The main attraction for a sketcher like myself is the mosh pit of dancers. Everything takes place in a little corner, off to the side of the statue, backed on two sides by a 4 foot wall. This makes a little amphitheater that fills up with a mass of gyrating, bumping, and grinding bodies. The drumming never stops – one person gets tired, another steps in. It’s hypnotizing. You could dance – or draw – for hours without coming up for air.
I hear this thing is a meetup for dope fiends, but to be honest, I didn’t see any of that while I was there. I suppose they have secret codes to find each other in the crowd. I think that’s a thing if you want it to be, but most people are there for the sun, the music and the weird opportunity to merge into the tribe of drummers and dancers. If you ever thought a place had ‘good vibes’ – this would be it.
The other day I was talking to Julie Prescesky of Design Inkarnation.com, and she revealed something very cool. She’s a mom and a home-schooler, and, as the resident artist in her co-op Atelier Communidée (French word-play on Community and Idea), she is making sure the kids have a great art program that includes Urban Sketching.
I dropped by the school to meet the kids and do a couple of hours sketching down by Montreal’s Lachine Canal. They seemed old-hands at field sketching. Some of them immediately found the best vantage point on top of a stone lion.
I was impressed how well they did, even the younger ones were into drawing from observation. Trying to make a record of what they saw. I don’t mean that’s the limit of their imagination – at least one fellow was drawing a big turkey leg on a dinner plate. And it wasn’t even that close to lunch time.
As a kid, I certainly didn’t have the concept of location drawing introduced this early. It was all storybook drawings and comics at first. This has the potential to radically change up a kid’s approach to learning to draw. Clearly I’m not a parent, or I’d have clued into this earlier. I wonder if anyone else out there is doing Urban Sketching with kids? Let us know about your program – it’s always possible you have a USk correspondent in your area!
Here’s a short Q&A with Julie, and some pics from the day.
MTH: How would you describe your art program – just a few lines I can use to introduce you:
JP: Centre Communidée is a community run centre in St-Henri catering to homelearners in the Greater Montreal area, and beyond. We are a group of parents who collectively offer our children learning opportunities in areas we have skill (and/or interest) in.
Atelier Communidée is a workshop space we’ve recently added to our Centre that facilitates woodworking, pottery, sewing and more for us AND the greater public. More info on how to join [here] .
MTH: Was it in fact USK (Montreal) that got you interested in taking the kids out and drawing on location – or were you doing it already?
JP: I seem to recall admiring the USK:MTL blog and Facebook posts long before I ever actually joined you guys for a Sunday Sketchcrawl. I started getting out and sketching urban environments on my own and really fell in love with it. I had been teaching a basic drawing class to the kids at the Centre at the time, and, with the weather changing for the better, I thought the kids might enjoy getting out there too.
That was when I met with USK:MTL for the Little Burgundy Sketchcrawl and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I was in love. And I was excited to share it with the kids. So, yes, USK:MTL planted that seed, absolutely. (Ed. Note: *fist pump – yes!*)
MTH: Do you notice any of the kids engaging with the world through drawing on their own, outside of ‘official’ drawing time?
JP: Indeed! One parent told me that after only one session with us, her daughter was out and about in their neighborhood sketching all of the time. My own daughter will sometimes draw herself to sleep. Sure not outdoors, but she’ll use drawing as a way to calm her mind and prepare for bed. My boys draw crazy contraptions all of the time, but they haven’t yet crossed the threshold of wanting to wander outside and draw on their own.
I think having the opportunity to go out and draw on a regular basis with their friends will help inspire them to do it also during their own time. I try to keep drawing time really low pressure. Nothing squashes interest like expectations. The goal is to have fun. I want to foster a positive connection to drawing for these kids.
MTH: What do you think are the benefits to starting observational drawing so young?
JP: We have a wide array of ages in our little group, from toddler thru teenager, to mature adult, and we all mix and mingle together. I’ve seen that the younger ones, though still sometimes self-conscious, tend to have an easier time letting go of what something is “supposed” to look like. It seems like a much scarier thing for the adults to do.
Sketching and “learning to see” is a great tool for recognizing that things that once seemed unattainable, are absolutely within their grasp, and all it takes is an appropriate attitude (i.e., a willingness to try despite self-doubt, or a willingness to let go of the notion that they CAN’T do it).
We have also noticed that observational drawing helps you to connect with your environment in a very quiet, yet spectacular way. Things you’ve passed by hundreds of times suddenly become fresh and beautiful. You start to form a different kind of relationship with that place.
Just like music holds memory, and scent holds memory, I think these sketches will hold memory for our little urban sketchers. And, it could very possibly yield a sense of greater pride in our community.
You can see some of our urban sketching adventures in and around St-Henri on my blog.
MTH: Thanks to Julie for inviting us to her kids sketching group, and I hope they keep at it, and one day we’ll see them sketching at a USk event!
Water Soluble Ink: The Ultimate Sketching Kit?
Earlier this spring, a bit before drawing on the street was seasonable here in Montreal, I spent an afternoon sketching in the greenhouse at the MTL Botanical Garden.
Looking back in time, my location drawing has been a fairly steady transition from black and white line drawing, through line and wash, and towards painting on location. Mostly I see this as a natural progression. An ‘improvement’ from drawing towards painting. I think most people would feel that paintings are somehow more challenging. A ‘higher art’ than drawing?
There’s some biological reason behind it I’m sure. A painting, being tonal, can tap into the eye-to-brain function and convince us we’re looking at reality. But, oddly, that’s why I love line work. Because it’s not such a straightforward illusion of reality. There’s something about an ‘unfinished’ sketch that really appeals to me. It’s partially the speed of execution (they are more fun for the artist – no labor, just free-flowing seeing), and partially the way line is both specific about detail yet an abstraction at the same time. A line drawing conveys so much, so compactly. I can’t get over the joy of that magic trick. How does it work? That a drawing can make us see an object in our mind?
That’s why I’m currently hooked on washable ink.
It really is the best of both worlds. I’m convinced that this approach is the ultimate sketching tool. A Lamy Safari Fountain Pen, or a dipping pen with washable inks (Lamy in a bottle, or Private Reserve), combined with watercolor. It’s so much fun. Melting your drawings, into paintings. (Yes, yes, I’ve said it all before – but I love this so much, it’s a mini-obsession right now). I’ve recently discovered that the paper matters a great deal. I’m getting nice results with coated stock, such as this 8×8″ watercolor book by Hand Book.
Here’s another before and after showing the drawing, the melting with color, and the results.
All this being said – I am still on that path, walking from drawings toward painting. In a future post I’ll show you more of that transition. I’ve been getting some nice stuff recently. Things are piled up on the scanner waiting for you.
Interview up on Wanderarti
Lizzie Davey over at wanderarti.com has just posted a short interview with a few great questions about travel sketching. Hop on over for a look at a new blog, focused on the intersection of art and travel.
Meeting doodles: the pen is always moving
I was in a lecture the other day that involved a variety of strangers discussing a serious topic in French. While I was in Lost Anglo mode, I found myself watching the body language. How the audience was listening so raptly, and the presenter was delivering so intensely.
The pen is always moving. Logging more mileage. Doing the ‘hard yards’ as the Aussie say. I can feel my fidelity with faces and expression, inching upward. Faster than my French.
USK:MTL Sketching on Mount Royal
I was up on Mount Royal last weekend, sketching with USK:MTL. Our Fourth Sunday Sketching event seems to be catching on. Shari says she counted 30 sketchers – certainly our largest turn out so far.
First thing I sketched was the view from the Chalet du Mont Royal. Great view of the river and the mountains beyond. Someone looking at it later rattled off the mountains names, so I guess I got the little bumps right. I was mainly interested in how blue it was off in the distance. In the middle of the sketch a huge turkey vulture started slowly circling. Perhaps he is wondering who is this fool standing under the hot sun for hours scribbling in his notebook.
As the day heated up, I joined Shari under some shade. We did our usual back-to-back conversation, so we can hang out, but not be drawing the same thing.
In the afternoon some of us headed to the other side of the mountain to sketch in the Mont Royal Cemetery. Always a favorite place to draw. I don’t know what got into me – there was a weepy angel just to the right of my composition, and I left her out! It’s so unlike me not to paint a gothic statue given the opportunity. But today was sort of a landscape compositions day and she just didn’t fit in. I was too interested in these stone sepulchers half buried in the side of the mountain.
I will mention, we were talking that morning with Les Amis de la Montagne about the possibility of a sketching exhibition at the Maison Smith. So there are some plans in the works, but it won’t be this year. Naturally they have things already on the schedule for their gallery this summer. But that’s ok, it gives us the time to do more sketching on-and-around the mountain. If anyone out there has some sketches from the top of our island, drop me a line, we can keep in touch about this Mount Royal themed show.
More photos from the day:
Drawing Birds from Life at “24 Hrs of Science”
[Tyto alba – Common Barn Owl : washable ink and watercolor, 10×14″]
Yesterday many Montreal Urban Sketchers were out at Parc La Fontaine for their annual “24 Hours of Science” event, organized in partnership with “Science pour Tous!“. There were numerous interactive demonstrations spread around the park, mostly geared for kids.
In our area, we were doing drawings of live birds brought down by the Granby Zoo. They had a fellow giving an extended talk about his birds and the other material he had on hand (taxidermy, some anatomical mounts of wings, raptor claws, skulls, etc). Kids of course were fascinated by the idea of him holding the birds on the gloved hand, and the chance to poke the stuffed ones, getting up close to their claws and glaring yellow eyes.
[Bubo virginianus – Great Horned Owl : washable ink and watercolor, 10×14″]
[Falco sparverius – American Kestrel: washable ink and watercolor, 10×14″]
Mathilde Blais
Early yesterday morning Montreal citizens gathered to memorialize the death of 33 year old speech therapist Mathilde Blais.
Last week she was struck by a transport truck and killed instantly while cycling under the Des Carrières railway bridge.
For a long time now people have expressed concern about these underpasses – but there are no other alternatives for crossing the train tracks that divide the island. Cyclists and vehicles, including the oversized trailer that claimed Ms. Blais, are expected to share these narrow lanes.
There are perfectly safe elevated sidewalks in the tunnel, but last year the city handed out over eleven thousand tickets to cyclists riding on sidewalks. Further complicating matters, many of these underpasses have barriers specifically designed to keep cyclists off these sidewalks. You’d have to dismount and carefully weave between staggered poles, one rider at a time.
It took Mathilde’s death, the first fatality while riding one of Montreal’s much loved Bixi bike-shares, to get these barriers removed, and a tacit agreement in place that police will use judgment, only ticketing cyclists actively endangering pedestrians.
Today, an all-white ghost bike hangs from the railing, standing vigil. A hand lettered sign says simply “Une Cycliste Est Morte Ici – Mathilde Blais 2014-04-28 – A Cyclist Died Here”.
Here is the drawing I made, after the TV crews, the photographers, and the cyclists had left.
Montreal Croissant Festival
Today was the Montreal Croissant Festival. A magical day when bakeries all across the city put forward their most flaky buttery crescent shaped delicacies – for only $1 a piece! Well ok, if you want the chocolate ones, or the maple bacon – that might run you a bit extra. But for basic melt in your mouth croissants – today is the day for stocking up.
We tried out a range of almond and maple choices at Marius et Fanny, and couldn’t resist a second stop at Les Co’Pains D’Abord after meeting their friendly Croissant Girl with her basket of free samples. Brilliant marketing apparently, because they were jam packed. I needed the long walk home after five croissant in one morning.
The other day I was doing a little sketching in my old Plateau neighborhood. There’s a little storefront on my ex-block that seems to change hands faster than a bitcoin key. It’s been a lot of things, mostly fashion related – but recently it’s changed over to a Vape shop.
You may not have heard of Vaping yet? – it’s basically using a cute electronic gadget to vaporize the chemical laced payload in a (refillable?) cartridge, then inhaling these mysterious fumes (ok, water vapor) in order to get the flavor, and possibly a nicotine buzz.
But, I feel bad for this little Vape shop in its cursed retail location – because I’ve already been reading about legal bans on e-cigs in New York, and the possibility of the same restrictions coming to Montreal.
[The magic E-Liquid, E-Cigs and my favorite, the E-Pipe. As Magritte says “Ceci n’est pas une pipe“]
Proponents are saying their pocket hookas are a huge boon to the light headed inhalers among us – saving us from the serious health consequences of traditional coffin nails. Advocates say it’s ‘common sense’ that inhaling pure water and nicotine has to be safer than burning pesticides and tobacco right? I mean, who knows what’s lurking in that loamy Virginia soil. So it’s win-win all around, and pure reactionary buzzkill to be talking about bans.
The problem with this cigarette alternative comes in here: the contents of the vaporizing ‘juice’ is completely unregulated at this time. We don’t know what’s in it, or where it comes from, or how consistently it’s manufactured. So it seems impossible to know if in fact it’s safer than the old fashioned match-to-paper cancer sticks. Do you want to be inhaling fumes cooked up by an entrepreneur jumping onto a new stimulant market, trying to cash in before FDA regulations can catch up?
Personally, I can wait and see what happens. I’m getting all the carcinogens I need from licking points on my brushes. And apparently, all the buzz as well.
Citizen Sketcher 