The Art of the Travel Sketch

The Art of the Travel Sketch is inspired by American author Kurt Vonnegut’s observation that “peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.” Warfield has devoted a lifetime of world travel and architectural research to record in sketches, words and photographs the most exotic vernacular environments and the cultures and people who create them. The book is intended as both an educational volume and a highly personal visual memoir. Its focus is not on “how” to draw, but rather on “why” one draws. The book celebrates the delight and excitement of travel as well.

The Art of the Travel Sketch is a compilation of drawings by architect James Warfield. Inspired by American author Kurt Vonnegut’s observation that “peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God,” Warfield has devoted a lifetime of world travel and architectural research to record in sketches, words and photographs the most exotic vernacular environments and the cultures and people who create them. The book is intended as both an educational volume and a highly personal visual memoir. Its focus is not on “how” to draw, but rather on “why” one draws. Selected as exemplars of graphic and conceptual principles, Warfield’s sketches are accompanied by a series of essays that range from instructive – on selecting subjects, on perspective, on drawing from real life – to philosophical – on courting the creative moment, on confidence, on poetry, and on guilty pleasures and personal critiques. The book celebrates the delight and excitement of travel as well. The foreword is written by architects Cathi and Steven House, authors of Mediterranean Villages: an architectural journey and true artists in their own right, who share Warfield’s passion for both the sketch and world architecture.

James Warfield is an architect, educator and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition to his teaching efforts in the design studio and research in vernacular architecture, he has for over 40 years led student sketch groups in China, Turkey, Mexico, Bolivia and the Greek islands. Four recent international photographic exhibitions – “Inalterable Dreams: People and Architecture of China’s Folk Environments,” “Architecture of Occasion: Time + Place,” “Stone Poems: Architecture and the Land,” and “Roads Less Traveled” – celebrate his lifelong research in vernacular architecture, concepts of “place” and cultural responsiveness. Another exhibit, “Dancing Lessons from God,” focused upon the travel sketch and formed the basis for this book. His book Roads Less Traveled was published by UN+ Architects in Shanghai in 2009. In honor of his lifetime contributions to architectural education, he was named ACSA Distinguished Professor in Architecture by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Now retired, he lives with his wife Chelle in Champaign, Illinois, and shares his continued research at www.jwarfield.com.