Art Beat with Rosalie Crawford

The only New Zealander to be included in a group of international urban sketchers has been holidaying with family this summer in Papamoa.

Growing up here, Murray Dewhurst attended Papamoa Primary School and Te Puke High School. On leaving school, he started out drafting in Tauranga, and then left in the mid-1980s for Auckland to study architecture, eventually changing to graphic design at Whitecliffe.

Urban Sketcher Murray Dewhurst returns home to Papamoa to sketch the beach.

He discovered the urban landscape of Auckland. Having an office in Newton and then moving into Central Auckland; surrounded by old buildings, he started sketching them. When the Christchurch earthquakes happened, he considered that some of the Auckland buildings may eventually be taken down, as they would need strengthening to meet building codes.

He told me: 'I like the drawing and art in graphic design, but today it's a computer career, so the main reason for sketching is to get me out of the office and doing some art. Expressing myself in some way. It's something I can do without too much gear, just a sketchbook, pens and a tiny watercolour box”.

'Growing up in Papamoa, everything there was so new and I liked the old stuff. I like portraying the life and people you get in the city.”

Urban Sketcher Murray Dewhurst's sketches of his hometown Papamoa Beach.

Murray is the Kiwi correspondent for the Urban Sketchers Group (www.urbansketchers.org), which was started by Spanish journalist Gabriel Campanario, a columnist for the Seattle Times whose articles unusually feature sketches rather than photos. In 2011, Murray's work was included in an exhibition t the group held at the Ackland Art Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina.

His sketches are also the only ones by a New Zealander to be included in the book ‘The Art of Urban Sketching', which is a guide to urban sketching, showcasing drawings of cities done by artists from all over the world, from Seattle to Semarang to Sao Paulo to Auckland.

Murray particularly enjoys the ‘reportage' element of sketching current events as they happen. He's drawn the Volvo Around the World Yacht race when they left Auckland, The Laneway, Diwali and Pacifica festivals and other events that highlight thediversity and colour of life in Auckland.

During his holiday in Papamoa, it's clear he's picked up the life and vibrancy at the beach. His sketches have exciting energy; and he articulates in a few lines that reflect light on the surf and sand. Murray says Papamoa is a place that's become increasingly urbanised during the last decade or so. 'Growing up here, we had several dairies, a small country school, a petrol pump and not much more; now there are several shopping malls, three or four new schools, skateboard parks, you name it.

'Once you take the walk over the sand dunes to the beach though, it's just a nice and pristine as it ever was. Always good to head home and spend a few days at the beach.”

Urban Sketcher Murray Dewhurst sketches at Papamoa Beach during this summer.

Murray's parents live in Papamoa and a brother lives at the Mount. Murray was inspired to draw by an artist mother, who shows paintings in Zoha at the Mount, and a builder father, who was often working with architectural drawing. More examples of Murray's urban sketching can be found at www.aucklandsketchbook.com

Murray's sketch of The Occidental Hotel in Auckland.

A Murray Dewhurst sketch.