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"A Peek Behind the Curtain"

October 8, 2014

Accomplished printmaker and draughtsman Don Colley will pull back the curtain on drawing techniques during a Rankin Scholar residency on October 14 and 15. Colley creates exhaustive visual journals using pencil, ink, markers and watercolors to depict diverse content that ranges from studies of old master drawings and comic books to bemused observations of contemporary life. He maintains the blogs Urban Sketchers, Don Colley’s Road Trip and buttnekkidoodles, which are devoted to his travels and drawings. 

Colley will give a presentation about his drawing methods on Tuesday, October 14 at 5:30pm in the URBN Annex Screening Room (3401 Filbert Street). The talk is free and open to the public. On October 15, an outdoor "Sketch-A-Thon with Don" will give students a chance to draw alongside Colley in their own sketchbooks. This is a terrific chance to watch and draw with a master draughtsman and to pick up new techniques and approaches to drawing quickly. Samples of water-soluble graphite pencils, watercolor pencils and markers will be available to students attending the drawing session so they can try out the materials Colley uses. Students interested in joining the session on October 15 should meet in the URBN Center (3501 Market St.) first floor Lobby at 12:00pm.

Don Colley has exhibited widely in the US for 28 years and is currently represented by Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago, George Adams Gallery in New York, Fleisher Ollman Gallery in Philadelphia, and Philip Slein Gallery in St. Louis. 

From October 2 to 16, Colley’s notebooks—some of which are old journals or account ledgers on which he has created sketches—will be on view in the second floor display cases in the URBN Center. Pages will be turned daily to reveal new sketches.