You could argue that a city doesn't know itself—doesn't know its soul, really—until it sees itself in art. A technically competent photograph of Paris in a guidebook gives us what some portion of the city looks like, but it takes a Degas, a Manet, or an Atget to take us beneath the surface and show us the appeal a city makes to a sensitive brain and heart. I love the city of Tokyo and have been there many times, but a wonderful recent movie about two lost souls traveling through the city, Adrift in Tokyo, sums up my experience of Japan's capital better than my own memory--and a lot better than my dull photos.

That's why I'm always excited to see what artists make of the Twin Cities, particularly when they're working personally and/or informally, not for a tourist brochure. A while ago we ran a portfolio
of the beautiful work of Robb Burnham, who uses line and color to captures the sense of space and solitude that you feel even in our downtowns. And just a few days ago I ran across an online treasure-trove of handmade Twin Cities imagery: Urban Sketchers, Twin Cities USA.

Here's the manifesto of this group of informal-art makers:

1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
3. Our drawings are a record of time and place.
4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
6. We support each other and draw together.
7. We share our drawings online.
8. We show the world, one drawing at a time.

International Sketches

The Twin Cities sketchers belong to a worldwide community--Urban Sketchers--who portray cities from Seoul to São Paulo, and who are holding a symposium in the eminently sketchable Catalan city of Barcelona in mid-July. The founder of the organization, Seattle-based journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario (who, by the way, was born in Barcelona), visited Minnesota in February for the AIA-sponsored Lake Superior Design Retreat in Duluth.

So here's yet another highly cosmopolitan Twin Cities group who are also resolute localists--as you can see in the samples at left--costumed re-enacters at the opening ceremonies for Saint Paul's Union Depot; Saint Patrick's Day 2013 in Saint Paul; an eloquent pile of snow; an imposing beaver at the Bell Museum; snow on a barbecue; the remarkable antique elevator in the old Pioneer Press building, now the Minnesota Museum of American Art; and a soulful view of Irvine Park in Saint Paul.

Seeing our towns through the eyes, fingers, and pencils of the Urban Sketchers reminds us that there's an infinity of experiences waiting for us in our own backyard.