Percy
Feils

Mary Ann
Kaufman

Sketch: Mexico City

Percy Feils (pronounced "fails") was once known by another man’s name (Mike Simpson). He now makes art, walks train tracks, curates good art shows & shakes cocktails in New York City. Percy is a CCA graduate. In this issue Percy contributes a sketch of urban Mexico City. Website — Spraygraphic interview

(page 7)

"Singing Bridges"

Mary Ann, a stay at home mom for 13 years, became interested in transportation planning issues due to a road construction project in her neighborhood. She is a strong believer in collaboration and a multi-disciplinary approach to the planning process and design. Mary Ann studied at UIC completing the requirements for transportation urban planning, interning at Pace Suburban Bus company, the Urban Transportation Center, and the Neighborhood Initiative through the Great Cities Institute. She also took classes in Environmental Planning and Ecology through the UIC Leap program. Mary is currently working at the Northwestern Regional Planning Commission as a GIS technician/data base manager and Regional Planner. Mary Ann's first research love, however, is addressing quality of life issues thruogh infrastructure and policy. LinkedIn. (page 13)

Aimée
Margolis

Shiho
Nakaza

"Black & White" (photo study)

Aimée is an artist living in New York City. Her work has been shown in galleries and museums here and abroad and belongs to private and public collections. Aimée was born in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Boston University, School of Fine Arts. She has B.F.A.Degree in Sculpture and Photography. Aimée studied under Phillip Guston, Tovish, and Lilly. She also attended New York School of Drawing and Painting, Paris Session where she studied under Elaine De Kooning and Wayne Thiebaud. Aimée lived in Tel-Aviv for ten years. Currently she is Creator/Producer of PROJECT ART SHOW, Television for the Fine Arts, airs Monday nights at 10:00 PM on Manhattan, & Time/Warner Cable Television Channel 56.(bi-monthly) Spraygraphic Interview Website — (page 7)

Urban Sketch: Venice Beach

With this issue we welcome Shiho Nakaza as a regular contributor to Urban Sketches. Shiho has been drawing since she was three, and she is still drawing to this day, partially as a professional illustrator and graphic artist, and partially for herself. In the process, she has learned to appreciate the city with its quirks and beauty — people of multiple cultures, buildings with various architectural styles, nature that thrives despite the urban setting, all usually taking place at the same time. Website — Blog (page 5)

Sean
Posey

Josef
Reyes

"Youngstown" (multimedia)

Sean is a freelance photojournalist, currently working out of San Francisco. His work focuses primarily on documentary issues and editorial assignments. His style is at the "intersection of photojournalism and the evolving world of multimedia technologies. Sean has just completed a project on the continued collapse of the former steel city, Youngstown, Ohio. He is currently working on a multimedia series on the plight of the city. Sean shares a portion of that project with us. Website (page 8)

"City Symphony" (audio)

Josef is a graphic designer. He has worked on design projects for the New York Times, Philip Glass, Isaac Mizrahi, and the Museum of the City of New York. Print Magazine selected Josef as one of the 20 emerging design talents under 30 years old for 2009. Josef also publishes, edits and designs a visual journal about Jersey City called Conveyer, which was nominated in the 2006 Utne Independent Press Awards for Best New Publication. He hails from Manila, Philippines. Website. (page 9)

Aybige
Tek

Tim
Devin

"Chicago: Connected City"

Aybige is an architect in Istanbul at the moment. She has a masters degree in architecture from Illinois Institue of Technology, Chicago, and an undergraduate from Yildiz Teknik Üniversitesi. Her professional work is mostly highrise and single family residential projects with various architecture teams both in Chicago and Istanbul. Aybige is currently employed by The Board of Investment Art as a art and architectural consultant. Aybige also has a strong focus in painting as a hobby. Website (page 6)

"Leaving Little Mysteries in the Street"

Urban Paradoxes received Tim's first-person experience just as it was going live. Tim sent it for another issuse, but it seemed to fit this one so well that we wanted to innclude it. Tim is a Boston-based conceptual artist and writer. His work deals with humanizing public space, and combating what he views as the negative effects of urban anonymity (such as people's emotional isolation, and lack of attachment to their environment). Tim is the founding editor of "I left this here for you to read," a collaboratively-created, freely-distributed, hand-made magazine; he is also a member of the Rise Industries art group. Website (page 10)