Salem Sketchers at the HUB

Once a month on the second Saturday a group of people from around town gather someplace to draw for an hour together.  It becomes an examination of visual resources in our community and a sort of camaraderie of people who like to draw…people who don’t necessarily know each other in daily life.  The youngest is 8, the oldest over 80…with all age groups by decade in between represented.  I don’t always go, but when I do I ALWAYS enjoy it. The organizers are Katy Vigeland and Jessica Ramey and one or both of them are always there.

Today the group was meeting at the HUB Northwest, a place I’ve driven by a hundred times without knowing anything about it.  They opened at 9:30 for us, it was snowing, but the intrepid showed up and drew…interspersing themselves between rows of bikes…

The people at HUB Northwest recondition bikes, pick up bikes from the landfill, sort, reuse parts or fix bikes that are usable.  They also receive donated bikes and fix them if needed.  Once a bike is spruced up and reconditioned they sell it.  They give bikes to people in our community who really need a bike to commute or live life.  They train people to fix bikes, they have a cadre of volunteers and everybody we spoke to was warm and friendly and positive.  In a world of increasing greed it felt like a very good thing to sit in among the bikes drawing for an hour while people were working around us selling parts, fixing bikes, etc.  If you are looking for a bike you might try them first…they had some very good looking bikes of every type.

I situated myself near a bin of “stems” for the Pareidolia faces …

Next month we’ll be at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art on Saturday, March 9th…Sketchers get in free…come on down.