Monday 2 July 2012

Denis Mason Jones - a celebration of sketching


RIBA Yorkshire and West Yorkshire Society of Architects invited local architects and members of the public to view the beautiful freehand sketches of the late Denis Mason Jones in an exhibition that aimed to inspire people to set aside their mouse and keyboards and pick up a pencil and sketch!

Visitors enjoy the exhibition... (MJHeritage Photograpy)

...and the wine! (MJHeritage Photography)
Denis Mason-Jones was a distinguished Leeds architect, who always had a pencil in his hand and a sketchbook in his pocket to capture the city's cultural surroundings and humour of every day life. His compulsion to record, in words and sketches, the impressions and incidents of his life, resulted in a collection of nearly 100 meticulously kept scrapbooks.

In an exhibition of his drawings in 1984 at RIBA in London, Denis explained that "these sketches make no pretence to Art with a big A, but attempt to show the enjoyment of always having a sketchbook handy in which to catch a mood or subject. They show the pleasure of doodling whilst relaxing in a cafe with a drink or coffee and, sometimes, of making a travel story to send home to my family."

The exhibition was based on pages from his pocket diary sketchbooks collated over 5 decades, and includes reproductions of his 'doodles' and some larger exhibition pieces. 
West Yorkshire Society of Architects President Bob Felix introduces the new Denis Mason Jones Award for free hand sketching (MJHeritage Photography)
To commemorate Denis’s contribution to the art of freehand sketching of architecture, the West Yorkshire Society of Architects is launching an Award in his honour for Architects and students of Architecture in Yorkshire. To find out more information about the WYSA Denis Mason Jones Award for freehand sketching, please contact riba.yorkshire@riba.org

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