I have an addiction to buying journals. My latest purchase was a beautiful blue and gold number I found at The Strand over a year ago. I have written on exactly three pages. Since then, it has sat on a shelf next to other partially filled journals gathering dust. Recently, I pulled several of these journals out and read them. Some of them had entries that went back more than a decade. I was such a naive babe in the woods! I made a mental note to have my sister edit them before she publishes them (posthumously, of course, obviously I will die a famous author despite my inability to completely fill a journal). I am always amazed by those who are able to not only fill their journals, but turn them into a piece of art.
But such is the vision behind The Sketchbook Project. Created in Atlanta in 2006 and moved Brooklyn in 2009, The Sketchbook Project focuses “on the intersection of hands-on art making and new technology.” Co-founded by Steven Peterman and Shane Zucker, The Sketchbook Project has grown to include over 70,000 artists from over 135 countries.
The way The Sketchbook Project works is like this:
1) You order a sketchbook from The Sketchbook Project Store.
2) You fill your sketchbook up with cool stuff. It can be anything! Doodles, collages, poems, journal entries…the possibilities are endless! Out of inspiration? Don’t despair! The Sketchbook Project has weekly challenges and medium-specific swaps and exchanges to get those creative juices flowing.
3) Send your completed sketchbook into the Brooklyn Art Library, where it will be housed. You can even choose to have your sketchbook digitized! Sketchbooks are cataloged and bar-coded with searchable details. Visitors to the library can even look up where a sketchbook is from, what materials were used, or the artist’s name.
The registration for the 2017 Project is January 17th, which is coming up fast. Luckily, The Sketchbook Project will have a booth at this year’s BUST Craftacular on December 10th and 11th at Brooklyn Expo Center. You will be able to sign up there for the project, buy a sketchbook, or other art supplies.
Check out some completed sketchbooks at www.thesketchbookproject.com or follow them on twitter @sketchbkproject, and find out more about the BUST Craftacular here.
And be sure to go by their booth to pick up your sketchbook! I know I will! And maybe this time I will actually complete an entire journal!
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