The Newport Drawing Tour

Spring 2019

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The Newport Drawing Tour provides participants with practical knowledge of tradition as manifest in the architecture, urbanism and landscapes of this city of Port and Pleasure. Participants follow in the great tradition of architects and artists who have learned from drawing in situ. One may take a thousand photos of a subject and may not know it…but if one spends some time drawing the same object …you will have it in your mind forever. To draw is to see.

The program focuses study on the enduring vitality and continuity of the classical tradition through the means of observational and analytical drawing.  The day will be spent drawing, in situ, at sites that underscore the relationship between buildings, the human figure, and their built and natural environment.

A variety of subjects will be sketched to examine the city and its environs as a work of civic art at all scales –from urban ensemble to individual buildings and architectural detail.

Instructor: David Pearson, Senior Designer at Paul Weber Architects in Newport, Rhode Island

Former Associate with Robert A.M. Stern Architects. While at RAMSA He was responsible for the design of a broad range of projects for cultural, institutional, and residential clients. Mr. Pearson worked on the Commonwealth of Virginia General Assembly Building in Richmond and the Georgia Judicial Complex in Atlanta. He previously worked on the LEED Gold Immanuel Chapel for the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia; Audley Square House, a top-end residential building in the Mayfair district of London; a mixed-use development comprising a 32- story apartment tower, townhouses, and a meetinghouse for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; a mixed-use development in Charleston, South Carolina; and a supportive housing building for a non-profit organization in Brooklyn, New York.

Mr. Pearson’s work in China for RAMSA included residential developments in Hong Kong, Tianjin, Beijing, Jinjiang, and Xiamen; the conversion of an existing building into a hotel in Hong Kong; and a private residence in Ningbo.

Prior to joining Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Mr. Pearson worked with Veranda Partners of Orlando, Florida, as Vice President of Architecture and Design; and with Erickson Associates of Naples, Florida, as a principal. From 1991 to 2004 he was a principal at David Pearson Design of New York City and Orlando and Assistant Resident Designer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Mr. Pearson also served as an instructor at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture while earning his graduate degrees.

Mr. Pearson’s work has been published in Florida Design Magazine, Food Arts Magazine, The Classicist, Bar Excellence: Designs for Pubs and Clubs (Glen Cove, New York: PBC International, 1999), and World Space Design 09 (Tokyo: NIC Ltd., 1992).

Mr. Pearson is a graduate of Rollins College (B.A., Theatre Design and Studio Art), and the Georgia Institute of Technology (M.S.in Classical Design,2008, Architecture; M. Arch., 2011), where he was an Arthur Ross Scholar. He was selected as a Visiting Artist to the American Academy in Rome in 2008 and 2011. Mr. Pearson is a member of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art.

Date: TBD Spring 2019
Time: 9:30 am - 5:30 pm
Location: Trinity Church 141 Spring St, Newport, RI 02840
Tickets: $35 for Members $50 for General Public
AIA LUs offered