In New York Reawakens: A Summer of Hope, Portland-based reportage artist Rita Sabler captures a slice of life in the Big Apple at a pivotal time in the city’s history: the end of the pandemic lockdown in the summer of 2021 and the slow return of scenes we used to take for granted. Live music at the clubs, a parade, friends and families coming together again — ordinary moments become extraordinary in the context of the pandemic.
Sabler describes the atmosphere of New York reawakening with both her words and her ink-and-watercolor drawings, taking readers on a tour of iconic locations like the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Little Island, Chinatown, Coney Island and many other spots.
In the Flatiron District, colorful café umbrellas welcomed patrons again. As she sketched, “a group of women unfolded their yoga mats. A fitness class was about to start under the open sky, in the middle of Manhattan.” Near Brighton Bridge, she drew locals carrying their shopping on a market street “peppered with natural medicine stores, fruit stands and small restaurants serving pelmeni and cabbage rolls.”
The drawings are reproduced at near actual size, giving readers the closest experience to browsing Sabler’s original A4-size sketchbooks.
About the author
Rita Sabler is a visual journalist, artist and educator based in Portland, Oregon, USA. She has taught drawing, urban sketching and visual journalism courses for Parsons School of Design, Pacific Northwest College of Art and Portland State University. Sabler’s reportage on Hawaii’s Kalaupapa Settlement won the Doctors Without Borders Coup De Coeur and the International Sketchbook Prize at the 2019 Rendez-vous du Carnet de Voyage in Clermont-Ferrand.
Book specs
Language: English
Hardcover: 72 pages
ISBN: 979-8-218-07301-5
Item Weight: 1.8 pounds
Dimensions: 8.3 x 11.7 inches (A4 landscape)
amanda –
A beautiful high quality printed book! Rita captured the energy and vibrations of a city opening up at a particular moment. It was a pleasure to feel, through her drawings and text, every unique thing she experienced. It was like I was there with her.
Jeanette Susanne Geis –
Fabulous coffee table book. Love the vibrancy and energy captured in the sketches by Rita.
Renee Cameron –
Such a lovely book! Gabi Campanario and Rita Sabler truly knocked it out of the park with this first book from Sketcher Press.
Rita tells a story like no other artist I’m aware of. You feel like you’re there with her, seeing and hearing all that she is taking in.
The book itself is lovely, a hard cover and thick paper. It is a joy to page through.
Highly recommended!
Pat Harrison –
Rita’s book is amazing. The colors are lush and vibrant. And her sketches feel so 3-dimensional I had to touch the first few to check.
The speed COVID overtook NYC overwhelmed me. Now, visually, I can come full circle and remember. An important book.
Alex Charner –
A beautiful addition to any library.
We have experienced history over the past several years. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of it, it’s difficult to grasp moments and impressions because of all the activity, stress and stimuli.
Rita Sabler’s work of composition, observation and documentation gives us the opportunity to revisit and tell the story of our time. There are few better ways than through the eye, hand, mind and heart of an artist.
As an object, the book is also gorgeously structured, printed and bound. A true gift.
Susannah Weinbaum –
This is a very touching and beautifully printed book. The well chosen locations that Rita Sabler sketched tell a story that anyone who lived through the pandemic will appreciate and be moved by. The colors are vividly reproduced and the sketches are gorgeous. A very satisfying book that I will return to many times.
Mayela Lameda-Lyver –
Beautiful book. Really high quality printing. Rita’s work is energetic and colourful. Her ability to tell a story with sketches and words transport me to the place. Fantastic job Gabi and Rita. Congrats to both of you.
James Richards –
As a huge fan of Rita’s work, I was eagerly anticipating this book. When it arrived, I was immediately impressed by the care of the shipping packaging, the heft of the book, the feel of quality of the cover and paper, the clean design. I knew it would be a treat to dig into, and it truly was. Rita’s work is some of the best visual storytelling out there, and this weaving together of her drawings and narrative feels very personal, like you are right there as Rita is drawing and describing her experiences. Many of the sketches are her deliciously detailed double-page spreads, and for my money no one does them better.
The release of this book by Gabi Campanario’s Sketcher Press feels like a special occasion for our worldwide community of urban sketchers. It not only documents an important time in NYC’s history, it’s also a milestone of sorts in the movement—a new generation, as Gabi has said, stepping up and taking it all further. Congratulations to both Rita and Gabi on an beautiful addition to our canon of important works.
Suhita –
My book arrived in good shape and packed with care. And that was just the beginning…
I knew I was in for a treat with Rita’s visual storytelling, but the vibrancy and energy of the sketches and how they so beautifully caught the mood of the city coming back to life was a joy to experience. And clean design, and great printing make this book one I am enjoying holding and flipping through often.
Luis Ruiz –
The beautiful cover was a promising prelude of what would be inside the book, and when my copy arrived home the expectations were totally fulfilled. The nice packaging shoved how much love was put into this project, and I confirmed it as soon as I opened it. Rita’s crisp and vibrant sketches were displayed on carefuly composed pages in an attractive format.
My only wish now is that more titles follow this first one of what would be an essential collection for every urban sketching lover.
Kristi Barnes –
Beautifully designed, printed and illustrated, this book perfectly captures the complex emotions that marked this period.
David Chamness (verified owner) –
Everything about this new book from Sketcher Press is excellent. Rita’s sketches are beautifully reproduced and her reportage fills in the details to place the viewer in the places she visited in New York. Well done and look forward to the next book from SP.
Carmine Iannaccone (verified owner) –
It is in the nature of urban sketching to be fast, immersive, in-the-moment. The pleasure of this book is that – without giving up any of that immediacy – you’re also given time to take a long, sustained look: at a city that can often be unforgiving and overwhelming, at an artist whose eye, voice, and sensibility gradually impress themselves upon you with each turn of the page, and most especially, at a collection of drawings that are gloriously reproduced, full of quirky details, shifting vantage points, odd characters, and big, ambitious, generous views. New York is dense and brash; Rita Sabler is sensitive and selective. Put them together, as this book does, and something really special happens.