After almost a year in the process, the sketchbook project was finally in Los Angeles. This sketchbook project was very dear to me because it made me feel like I was connecting with a new art community in Pomona. Which is something I missed so dearly about leaving the bay area. I invited four of my friends in Pomona to be a part of this project and even though Amy was the only one that followed through with it, I was still grateful. Also, our sketchbooks were just one of hundreds of sketchbooks in this tour so that gave me an even bigger sense of an art community.
My friends, Anthony, Adrien, and Abraham drove out to Los Angeles for the opening night. It was upsetting to find out that they were only going to be there for two days because a lot of friends couldn't make it on either one of those days. So this is my mini-"hey I know you missed the show, and I know these aren't the best photos, and there were hundreds of books and there are only a few pages here but I care about you and I hope this makes you feel like you were there, even if it's just a little." Post.
So there are three steps when going to any stop during the tour.
1. Make a library card.
-All the books belong to a permanent collection in Brooklyn New York so of course you need to make a quick library card so you can check out the book you want.2. Check out books.
-There were three computers set up and there were an array of options to choose from to find the book you wanted. Either you knew what book you wanted so you just type in the name of the artist, or you can check out a book by it's theme, by it's region, and then you'll get a random book that matches that criteria.
3. The wonderful workers from the sketchbook tour find whatever book you checked out and call your name when it's ready. And the fun ensues.
So Abraham checked out my book first and every time you check out anyones book, you get a second book. And I didn't find this out until later but whenever anyone checked out my book this same book in the picture above came along with mine. That sketchbook was from Mexico.
One thing that was really exciting was to check out sketchbooks from friends and peers that I went to school with. The fishes eating each other is a page from Kenneth Hungs sketchbook. He's actually the person that told me about this project and convinced me to participate in it. Thanks Kenneth! And your sketchbook was definitely in the top ten of the night.
Anthony Gonzalez showing us a favorite page of his.
Classroom fighting.
This was pretty much the scene trhoughout the gallery. There were about a dozen seats and an infinite amount of floor seating, I loved it because if we didn't want to go back up and get in line to check out another book, we would just start exchanging books with the groups of people right next to us.
There was also a table/area for making postcards for others to see when the tour went on to a new city. Here's a sweet picture of that process.
Maria from the U.K.
Since we got there right when the show started, we didn't have to fight the crowds. Towards the end of the night, this huge gallery space was crammed with so many people. But it just felt more festive every second.
I remember Adrien and Anthony being really impressed with a sketchbook by Jade Ku. Her book was full of inspirational quotes and fun colors.
This reminded me of internal organs.
And another book that I loved and I'm not being biased was Amy Maries book. "You're Not Fooling Anyone". Her book was all about hair.
This was just one of many spreads that I absolutely loved and it was such a relief to finally see her book after months of guessing and waiting. She had portraits and portraits drawn mostly with ball point pen. Her drawings were so detailed and drawn so well, I love the kind of gradient that ball point pen creates and Amy used that to her advantage creating layers and layers of hair.
Little warrior.
One thing Abraham and I made sure to do was try to write down the names of artist that we really liked so maybe we could contact them or even find more of their artwork. These two spreads are by Mattias Adolfsson, and yes these drawings get even better. I loved this sketchbook.
I'm so grateful that I had a chance to be part of a traveling art show with so many people from different parts of the world. It made me smile just thinking about how most of these sketchbooks have traveled
thousands of miles to meet each other, then travel thousands and thousands of more miles to meet all kinds of people. What a cool project and I'm so happy with how my book came out and I'm happy that I had the chance to see so many great sketchbooks with some cool friends.
I hope my mini, "hey I know you missed the show, and I know these aren't the best photos, and there were hundreds of books and there are only a few pages here but I care about you and I hope this makes you feel like you were there, even if it's just a little" was nice for you to read and look at. And just because you missed these sketchbooks that one time doesn't mean you'll never get a chance to see them again. They live in the Brooklyn art library as long as it's up and running so if you are ever in that area, give them a visit. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you.
Additional Photography by Abraham Santos
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