What's "Winona" About Winona?
Last weekend, MMAM welcomed renowned urban sketcher and newly-minted Winona resident Jim Richards for a sold-out workshop that invited participants to see the city with fresh eyes—and slower attention. Over the course of two days, the group explored the practice of urban sketching, learning not only how to draw what they saw, but how to notice what makes a place distinct in the first place.
Urban sketching, at its core, is about observation. It asks artists to engage directly with the world around them, drawing on location and responding in real time to the character of a place. Throughout the weekend, Jim encouraged participants to think beyond simply recording buildings or streetscapes and instead ask a larger question: “What’s Winona about Winona?”
On Friday, the class gathered downtown, sketchbooks in hand, taking in the view along Third Street from Merchant’s Bank. Participants studied the city’s historic architecture—the towering church steeples punctuating the skyline, the angled storefronts and chamfered corner entrances that give downtown its distinct rhythm, and the ornate facades whose details often disappear into the background of daily life. Under Jim’s guidance, artists learned how perspective, composition, and selective detail can capture not just what a place looks like, but what it feels like to stand there.
Saturday morning, the group met at the season’s first Winona Farmers Market. The market offered an entirely different kind of subject matter: bustling crowds, fleeting gestures, overflowing flower buckets, stacked produce, and the energy that arrives with the first truly spring-like weekends in Minnesota. Participants sketched quickly and intuitively, embracing the imperfect, immediate quality that makes urban sketching so alive.
What emerged over the weekend was not simply a collection of drawings, but a deeper attentiveness to place. Urban sketching has a way of slowing people down. It encourages noticing—the curve of a cornice, the way morning light falls across brickwork, the movement of people gathering in public spaces. In a city as visually rich as Winona, that practice of attention feels especially meaningful.
Jim reflected warmly on the experience afterward, saying:
“I was truly gratified with the large turnout and the high spirits of the group. MMAM provided great planning, logistics, support, and a perfect venue. All in all, a top-shelf experience.”
For many participants, the workshop offered an opportunity not only to strengthen their drawing skills, but to connect more deeply with the city itself and with a community of fellow artists equally eager to observe the world more carefully.
MMAM is thrilled to welcome Jim Richards to Winona’s creative community and grateful to everyone who joined us for such an inspiring weekend. If this workshop proved anything, it’s that there is always more to notice—sometimes all it takes is sitting still with a sketchbook long enough to see it.
-Maggie Sather, Associate Curator