When was the last time you picked up a pencil and sketched? Or saw the rain and felt inspired to paint? If you’re still wondering when, it may be time to meet with the Pencil Jammers. It’s an open community for those who love to draw.
Started well over four years ago by Smitha Shivaswamy and George Supreeth in Bangalore, the online community at Pencil Jammers has more than 3,700 members all over India, with a majority coming from Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, and Mumbai. “It all started when George and me — we have a design and illustration studio — got talking over a cup of coffee about how drawing had atrophied with the coming in of the digital era and computer graphics software. The two of us set out sketching and drawing one Sunday on Brigade Road. Soon friends joined in, and by and by a Facebook group took shape, and we had a flourishing community,” says Smitha. “The basic idea is that we need to draw,” Smitha explains the simple concept of the community.
So every Sunday whoever is free meets up for a Pencil Jam at a pre-decided location, brings along their art supplies and gets down to be inspired by the place and people around to express themselves in whatever medium they wish. There is no registration or participation fee. “On an average on most Sundays we have 15 people meeting up; some are regulars. We don’t set themes. Some people sketch, some do watercolours. We even have people who use acrylics. The materials and the medium become secondary. It depends on what each person is learning or what he wants to specialise in – portraiture, still life, illustration…” she adds.
Mostly the locations where they meet are parks, museums and heritage buildings. “Occasionally we book a bus and everyone pools in to go to spots like Nandi Hills or the Bannerghatta zoo. On the rare occasion we go to a busy market or santhe like the one in Madiwala or Malleswaram to study the colours of the place,” explains Smitha. They tend to draw and paint, discuss their work and techniques, debate on art education etc.
Some of the regular participants moved cities and felt the need to start similar communities where they settled. So after the Bangalore community, one was started in Chennai by Muralidharan Alaghar, in Delhi by Prabhat Mahapatra, and in Cochin by Babu Vijayanath. There are groups in Mumbai and Pune (started by Palak Dudani) too, though they are yet to pick up pace.
“In our Bangalore group we’ve had pilots, software engineers, doctors …people totally disconnected form the arts profession participate. They are usually good artists or pick up really fast,” laughs Smitha. The average age group is between 20 and 60, but then since it’s a Sunday, they very often have had kids walk in with parents and participate too, making four-year-olds also acceptable members. “This November we are launching the Pencil Play meet ups for kids every Saturday where they can come in with their parents and draw. We felt there was a need to address the need of children too, apart form the adults.” Apart from the meet-ups, artists also get to upload and exhibit their works on the Pencil Jammers website.
This Sunday October 26, they meet at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. You can look up the group on http://penciljammers.com or call Smitha on 99012-93823.
