Art House Co-op, sponsors of the Sketchbook Project, always have a lot of great projects to keep artists inspired and creating.  I occasionally like to participate in these, because they make me really think and try to be creative.  They help get me out of the ruts I can tend to get into.  One of the projects I did was the Map Project.  Here's the gist of the project (from the Art House Co-op website):

The Map Project

What does your world look like?

From Google’s satellite imagery to the directions we sketch on napkins, maps of all kinds help us make sense of our surroundings. The Map Project is an opportunity to channel your inner cartographer and create a map of your world. Chart your neighborhood, depict your hometown or plot out the landscape of your dreams — The Map Project is open to representations of any environment. We’ll transform our storefront exhibition space into a communal atlas, guiding visitors to places both real and imaginary.

"Mind Map of My Month: March 2012"

With this project, I really challenged myself to think outside of the box.  I knew I didn't want to try to draw a map of a real place...a cartographer I am NOT.  I'm not really sure where I got the inspiration for the mind map--most likely online somewhere.  I heard of using a mind map to organize your to-dos, and I am super forgetful, so I'm always trying to find ways to stay on top of things.  I made myself a mind map, and of course, the artist in me had to make it pretty!  I originally made my map in a little book I have, but I redrew it on different paper to fit the format for the Map Project.  This mind map is a really great way for a very visual person like myself to stay organized!

Donna : )

Sketchbook Project 2013!

You may remember that last year, I participated in the Sketchbook Project 2012.  Well, now I'm gearing up for the Sketchbook Project 2013 (if you'd like to sign up, click here--sign up by October 31, 2012)!


For those not familiar with this project, you receive a small sketchbook, fill it up, and send it back.  It then goes on tour...kind of like a concert tour for sketchbooks.  People line up in these different cities to look through all of the sketchbooks.  Pretty cool!  At the end of the tour, the sketchbooks go back to New York and are archived permanently at the Brooklyn Art Library, where they can be viewed.

My new sketchbook, a cute little "sketchbook sleeping bag," and a pencil made from reclaimed denim.  Sketchbook Project 2013, here I come!

I also wanted to let everybody know that my sketchbook from the 2012 tour is digitized online!  You can go take a look at the whole book: click here!  I'll post some pics from the new sketchbook once I actually get started.


Donna : )

Sketchbook Project 2012

"The Sketchbook Project is a constantly evolving library of artists' sketchbooks from across the globe.

This year thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at art spaces in 14 cities. After the tour, they will join the collection of the Brooklyn Art Library and made available to the public seven days a week."

I signed up to be a part of the Sketchbook Project 2012--they sent me my little sketchbook, I filled it up and sent it back.  I just think it's super cool that my sketchbook is now going on tour and people from all over will be able to look at it!

When signing up for the project, I had to pick a theme for my sketchbook from a list.  I chose "Travel With Me" as my theme, and had originally planned on drawing different places that I went.  The first drawing in the book is of the Portofino Bay hotel in Orlando, Florida, which looks almost exactly like Portofino, Italy.  After that, my idea completely changed.  I'm going to Italy in May of this year, and I am currently learning to speak Italian (thanks to Rosetta Stone), so I decided to use my sketchbook to chronicle my language-learning efforts.

If you'd like to see more of my Sketchbook Project 2012 drawings, check out my Facebook page.


The tour starts in April 2012, and here's where it's going:

• Brooklyn, NY
  April 14th-30th
  Brooklyn Art Library
  103A N. 3rd St
  Brooklyn, NY 11249
• Chicago, IL
  
  May 3rd-5th
  Hyde Park Art Center
  5020 S. Cornell Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60615
• Portland, OR
  
  May 11th-13th
  The Cleaners at the Ace Hotel
  1022 SW Stark St
  Portland, OR
• Vancouver, Canada
  
  May 15th-16th
  W2 Media Cafe
  111 W Hastings St.
  Vancouver, BC
• Los Angeles, CA
  
  May 24th-26th
  iam8bit
  2147 W. Sunset Blvd.
  Los Angeles, CA
• San Francisco Bay Area
  
  June
  Pop-Up Library

• Greater Boston Area
  
  July 6th-8th
  LynnArts
  25 Exchange Street
  Lynn, MA
• Portland, ME
  
  July 11th-14th
  SPACE Gallery
  538 Congress Street
  Portland, ME 04101
• Toronto, Canada
  
  July 18th-22nd
  The Gladstone Hotel
  1214 Queen St. W
  Toronto, ON

• Philadelphia, PA
  
  Aug 23rd-25th
  The Painted Bride
  co-presented with InLiquid
  230 Vine Street
  Philadelphia, PA 19106
• Atlanta, GA
  
  Aug 29th - Sept 1st
  MASS Collective
  364 Nelson St. SW
  Atlanta, GA
• Austin, TX
  
  September 8th-16th
  Co-Lab Project Space
  613 Allen St.
  Austin, TX
• London, England*
  
  October
  Canada Water Library
  co-presented with The Albany
  and Southwark Council
  21 Surrey Quays Rd.
  London, SE16
• Melbourne, Australia*
  
  November 10th-21st
  NGV Studio
  Federation Square
  Russell & Flinders Sts
  Melbourne

 

*As of now, the London and Melbourne exhibitions will be limited to books from their respective continents. All other tour dates will include every single book submitted to this year's project.


Ciao,
Donna : )