TEN-THOUSAND Sketchbooks!!

This (photo on left) is what 10,000 sketchbooks looks like, at the Brooklyn Art Library, an offbeat little place in a quiet neighborhood of Brooklyn. About double that amount of sketchbooks were sent out to participants in the Sketchbook Project, but these, here at the library, were the ones that were returned by the artists. The exhibit will travel around the country. Maybe you can see it when it shows up near you!

http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject/exhibitions

I wish I could say that I looked at them all, but, well, it doesn't work that way. But, along with other visitors to the Library, we sure tried!!

I liked the mix of people there, young, old, New Yorkers, and tourists like us. We sat at a table and shared sketchbooks with interesting people, and it was a warm friendly artsy environment. Check out those two cool covers sitting on the table. (Their insides were cool too.)

Some of the sketchbooks (such as these above) were humorous; some were scary, others were provocative, and many were introspective.

These 2 images are from a lovely book titled "You'd be home by now..."

To look at the sketchbooks, we were allowed to sign out 4 at a time. You could pick them from a theme, and from there it was pot luck, unless you told them a specific artist you wanted to see. During a lull, the gal in charge let me pick out 3 books from the shelves whose covers drew me to them. So some of the sketchbooks were better than others. Some were obviously done by kids, some were not anywhere near finished, and some were spectacular. Some had pages that folded out - and out - and out further, or popped up. The media choices were widely varied, including pencil drawings, paintings, collage, printmaking, and even crocheting! Covers were left plain, or jeweled, sewn, padded, collaged, laced, and more. By the time we left, we had probably viewed over 50 sketchbooks, only scratching the surface. What an amazing collection of art!

Here's some more favorite pages:

The crocheted book (right photo above, and 2 photos below) was SO cool - there was a crocheted fish, a giraffe, leaves on a tree, flowers, and more. Every page was an adventure!! Here's 2 more pages from the book, including the brilliant pop-up was in the middle of the book!

And some more sketchbook images:

This has been just a small sampling of what we saw. ---------------- Anyhow, here I am, still in NYC. Got back a few hours ago from a great visit to the Brooklyn Museum, but I haven't downloaded my photos off the camera yet. Hopefully tomorrow...

NYC & the Brooklyn Art Library Sketchbook Exhibit

Raining lightbulbs? Only in the Big Apple! Not sure what the lighbulbs were for, but they shimmered in the sun, so pretty. In the pictures below, the skinny building on the right is the Flatiron Building.

Start spreading the news... NYC is great as always! We made it today to the exhibit of the Sketchbook Project at the Brooklyn Art Library, but that will be another post, as I took SO many pictures I don't know where to start. So this post is more an ode to New York, NY, the "city so nice they named it twice!"

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So - have you ever been to NYC? I was born in the Bronx; my parents were one from the Bronx and one from Brooklyn, but I've never actually lived there. Still, the City is always one of my favorite places to go for a couple of whirlwind days.

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There's no place like New York City - the best of the best art museums but so much more; the City is filled with vitality and personality, neighborhoods each with their own special "feel". It's a city where it's nothing to walk 40 blocks in a brisk winter wind. Nobody saunters; foot traffic moves rapidly. Sidewalks are always full of people and energy. Wear good walking shoes if you come to NY! When you sit down in a restaurant the next table is probably just inches away, but the waitstaff will be fast and the food exceptional. The subways are noisy and the staircases taking you underground are gritty, smelly, and not the shiny pretty subway stations of those in places such as Washington DC. The subway trip from Manhattan to Brooklyn takes you flying at breakneck speed underneath the East River. Scary. But the trains are also fast and efficient and easy to figure out and the only really practical and cost-effective way to get around NY (unless you are a brave soul on a bicycle).

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Tomorrow morning I'm strolling up 6th Ave to buy bead supplies, and then we'll head back to Brooklyn, this time for the fabulous Brooklyn Museum, including a viewing of the 2 pieces by my grandfather in the "Visible Storage" exhibit.

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So look for more NYC posts, with images from the Brooklyn Museum and especially the Brooklyn Art Library's Sketchbook Project exhibit.