Sketchbook Project in Chicago

Sketchbook Project 2011 was in Chicago last weekend. For 4 glorious day 10,000 books were on exhibit in Hyde Park Art Center. Of course, I spent a lot of time there: to get my hands on my friends’ books and see them in person, to see new sketchbooks, and to reunite with my own while it was back in town.

Myself with my sketchbook and Shane, an Art House and Sketchbook project co-founder

I checked out my book and discovered that it needed some minor repairs, a couple of things got unglued. The next day I brought glue, tape and scissors and made the repairs right then and there to much delight of artists and visitors nearby.

Some sketchbooks I saw:

Carol King‘s book along with my favorite portrait from my own book

Vin Ganapathy of NYC and Debra Morris of Hong Kong

Joe Tomlison and Jeff Wrench, self-portraits

Nicola of PointyPix and Becky

Critters from two other books I loved

And finally…

David with his portrait!

I was delighted David could come and see my work as well as a number of other books.

I saw many more books, but it was impossible to document all that I saw as the crowd was so dense.

All in all it was a success!

8 Comments

  1. eldy July 23, 2011

    That must have been a great thing to do! The tour in 2012 will be coming to Vancouver so depending on the time of year (six hour drive) I hope to do the same. I signed up to Sketchbook Project 2012 after enjoying your portraits here.

    • Alex Zonis July 23, 2011

      I am so happy you will be doing Sketchbook Project 2012, eldy! It is a lot of fun, first while sketching, drawing and painting, then meeting people, then the show itself. I am planning to sit out the 2012. The book I’ve done took a lot of work, and knowing what it takes I decided to concentrate on my oil study instead. I don’t think I can do both and give each the attention it deserves.

  2. lesliepaints July 25, 2011

    What an absolutely lovely write-up of your visit to the Sketchbook Project, Alex. Your photography is right up there with your drawing and painting skills. Thank you for sharing the books of these blogger friends with us! WOW!

    • Alex Zonis July 26, 2011

      Thank you, Leslie! There was so much talent, so many amazing books, I did not get a chance to photograph unfolding ones that some people had. Too bad the Art House only showed the sketchbooks here for four days, I could spend a month looking through them, easily.

  3. asmalltowndad July 25, 2011

    That’s the beauty of art, so many styles, technics and creativity, and your book shows all the different shapes, textures and stories of people. What a great thing!

    • Alex Zonis July 26, 2011

      The show was amazing, Ryan! Just like you said, so many breathtaking ideas, all these “Why didn’t I think of that?!” moments. And what’ totally makes it great is the inclusiveness, anyone can participate, no jury or judging. So people are free to really do innovative things. I really get it. BTW, the 2012 Project is now open, if you would like to take part. Thank you for the comment!

  4. Carol King July 31, 2011

    Yippee! You got to see the sketchbook project. Your book was amazing when I saw it in NYC and it still looks amazing now. How cool to have David to photograph holding your book open to his portrait. Thanks so much for checking out my book too. I can’t wait for the show to get back to NY. I want to go and look at it again.

    • Alex Zonis August 1, 2011

      You are so lucky to have the Art House in your back yard! I wish I had more time to look through the books…

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