James Richards, urban designer & author, will present a Max Z. Conrad Lecture at the LSU College of Art & Design at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 2, 2019, in the LSU Design Building Auditorium (room 103).

James Richards is an artist, urban designer, author and educator whose work reaffirms and elevates the value of freehand sketching in a digital age. He is a former professor of design and drawing, and an advisory board member, blog correspondent and instructor for Urban Sketchers. His on-location sketches and watercolors have been widely published, shown in group and solo exhibitions and seen on NBC Nightly News. His award-winning book Freehand Drawing and Discovery is a text in design schools worldwide. He is a frequent visiting artist at universities, and keynote speaker for conferences and symposia. He travels globally to teach concept drawing and urban sketching workshops.

James Richards’ work crosses many creative boundaries. He is an urban designer, travel artist, author and former professor whose work explores great places and placemaking around the globe. He is co-founder of Townscape Inc., an award-winning urban design and placemaking consultancy.

Jim is the author of the award-winning book Freehand Drawing and Discovery: Urban Sketching and Concept Drawing for Designers, a popular text at design schools across the U.S. and abroad. He is an Advisory Board member, instructor and blog correspondent for Urban Sketchers, an international non-profit that promotes freehand on-location sketching across disciplines and around the globe. His on-location sketches have been published worldwide,  appeared in solo and group exhibitions, and seen on NBC Nightly News. His solo exhibition “Hemingway’s Cuba” was shown in Ernest Hemingway’s home outside Havana (now a national museum) during the 2015 Havana Art Biennial. Richards is the first American to show an exhibition at the Nobel Prize-winning author’s home.

His popular Bluprint online sketching course, “Sketching the Energy of Places,” has enrolled over 6,000 students, and is now part of The Great Courses series. He is a frequent keynote speaker for conferences and symposia, and travels globally to teach design drawing and urban sketching workshops for artists and design professionals.