"The Sketchbook Project"

"The Sketchbook Project"

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Seeing the first draft of a work of art often reveals more about an artist’s motives than their final piece does. For the past four years, the Art House Co-Op has asked artists to share bits of their inner creative lives with a traveling exhibition called “The Sketchbook Project.” The rules are simple: Art House mails out a package containing a blank Moleskine sketchbook and one of 30 themes, and participants interpret that theme in their own styles. After the sketchbooks are filled and returned, the books tour the U.S. at various galleries and venues. This year, for the exhibit’s fourth incarnation, 1,148 books will be showcased at 303Grand, followed by Art House’s brand-new location—the Brooklyn Art Library—where 2,000 books will be featured in its permanent collection. (Visitors will be able to check books in and out with special library cards.) We asked four local sketchbook artists to share the stories behind their visions.

“The Sketchbook Project”: 303Grand, 303 Grand Ave between Havemeyer and Roebling Sts, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (thesketchbookproject.com). Fri, Sat 8–11pm; Sun noon–2pm; free. Sketchbooks will be on display at the Brooklyn Art Library (201 Richards St between Coffey and Van Dyke Sts, No. 16, Red Hook, Brooklyn; 404-939-7667) on Feb 26 and will return full-time in May, check the website for updates.

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