January 2012
17 posts
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Vintage Fridays: Airline Training Books
Having a piece of history like these vintage airline training books in our possession can be intimidating. When we have a whole stack of something old, sometimes I wonder: “Should we really split all of these things up?”
These little slices of history are so charming, from the vintage attire of the pilot and stewardess to the fonts used throughout the books. Our collection currently...
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Mapping Your Stories
If you’re stuck on a project, Sketchbook or otherwise, maps are a great place to start. Check out these cool maps - from the archival to the satirical - as inspiration for mapping your own stories & experiences.
The ‘cartographic land octopus’ as depicted in this satirical ‘Humoristische-oorlogskaart’ (Humorous War Map); published in Haarlem by J.J. van...
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Oh, how we adore the packaging!
Every day in January is like Christmas here at the Brooklyn Art Library! With the 2012 Sketchbook Project deadline quickly approaching, we receive bundles of packages and envelopes daily, some of them decorated especially for us! Here is a lovely box we opened today from Romania:
Thank you Liliana Bolbol!
<3 Rachel
Vintage Fridays
Happy New Year everyone!
For our first Vintage Fridays post of 2012, I wanted to highlight an interest of mine: illustration. These lovely bags were found at a Parisian flea market buried under piles and piles of other vintage ephemera… and I just adore them. The illustration and graphic design are so interesting and I find the simplicity of color very refreshing. Enjoy!
These are...
December 2011
2 posts
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Vintage Inspiration from the Brooklyn Art Library
Here at the Brooklyn Art Library, it’s really starting to feel like the holiday season. All around our neighborhood, decorations are up, and and weather is finally getting seasonally cold. In the holiday spirit, I can’t help but look around the store and see what would make great gifts. These photographs are our most recent treasures that we have just put out in the store.
These...
November 2011
5 posts
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Thursday's Thoughts - Is there more to art than...
Hello Sketchbook Artists!
I hope this post finds you all feeling happy and creative! I’m Veronica, the newest employee here at Art House & the Sketchbook Project. I, like most of you, am working on my 2012 Sketchbook. I chose “The Companion Book” theme, because I plan on keeping it with me as a constant companion throughout the next 2 months – in my bag, at home, at work – in an effort to be...
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Wednesday's Weekly: The Home of Art House
[Art House HQ; Brooklyn, NY]
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the physical & ideological structures that surround us. The most predominant, perhaps, over the course of a lifetime is the home. The Free Dictionary online defines “home” as:
an environment offering security and happiness
a dwelling place together with the family or social unit that occupies it
the place...
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Monday, Monday: Best of the Web
Credit: Meegan Parkee (Scratchyas)
Hi there Sketchbookers!
It’s been an exciting week at Art House HQ — we just launched our brand new project, the Sketchbook Project Limited Edition Vol. 1! Open to just 5,000 participating artists, the Limited Edition is an experiment inspired by the Sketchbook Project. Every contributor to the Limited Edition Vol. 1 will be included in a series of art...
October 2011
4 posts
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Wine and Bind: Oct. 26, 2011 with Esther K. Smith
We are so excited to announce that next Wednesday, October 26, local artist and author, Esther K. Smith from Purgatory Pie Press, will be joining us at the Brooklyn Art Library for an ‘Exquisite Corpse’ themed Wine and Bind. Esther will do a demo as well as a signing of one of her books: How to Make Books.
There will be a $5.00 supply fee for communal supplies, or you can bring...
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September 2011
10 posts
5 tags
Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 15 - Drawing With Thread
Hey Sketchbookers, Sara here! Caitlin is getting ready for the AMLP tour date in Toronto, so for Tip Jar Thursday, I am going to talk about (what else?) stitching in your Sketchbooks!
We have some really amazing sketchbooks in the collection with beautiful line work made with a sewing machine. Many artists in the project replace their pages with fabric, and bind or sew it them back together. You...
Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 14 - A Stitch in Time...
Happiest of Thursdays to you, dear Sketchers!
A quick update this week on some of the beautiful and impressive books for the Sketchbook Project 2012 which have been landing into our postbox over the past few days. One in particular this week arrived to the Brooklyn Art Library from the Netherlands, and really took my breath away - I simply had to share it with you for this week’s Tip Jar!
...
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Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 13 - Creative Inserts
Welcome back to another edition of Tip Jar Thursday! For inspiration this week, we’ll be looking at how some artists’ sketchbooks stand out by including a little something extra for their viewers to see, find, put together, or even take home!
Our first look today is at the very ambitious 2011 sketchbook of Dona Bergen, from Tenants Harbor, ME.
My favorite of the many cool...
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Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 12 - Page... to... Page
Happy Thursday, friends! The sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds in Brooklyn this afternoon, which I found especially appropriate for this post’s theme today:
To give you all a bit of sketchbook inspiration, we are highlighting the work of SBP artists who have really gotten into the transition of their artwork from page to page.
How did they do it?
With a little finesse &...
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Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 11 - Transfers
It’s that day of the week again, my friends! Welcome to the 11th Edition of Tip Jar Thursdays.
Seeking her expert advice on image transfer techniques, we got in touch with Sketchbook Project 2011 Artist, Nicole Gervacio, from Oakland, California.
Above: Nicole’s 2011 Sketchbook Cover
Below: The Back Cover
Nicole’s artwork may look a bit familiar to some of you from our...
August 2011
19 posts
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sketchbook project: fill me with stories
reckspoon:
what are some ideas that come to your head when you think of that theme? :)
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Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 10 - Patterns and...
Hey hey Sketchers! And welcome to another, quite frankly unmissable edition of Tip Jar Thursdays! After meeting some of the artists from the 2011 Sketchbook Project at Saturday’s Homecoming, and finally getting the chance to match a name and face to a sketchbook, I’m in the Brooklyn Art Library this week taking good care of their beloved books. The “Lines and Grids” theme...
2011 Sketchbook Homecoming: Meet the Artists!
Good tidings dear Sketchers!
Following on from our last post in which we waxed lyrical about the 2011 Sketchbook Project Homecoming at the Brooklyn Art Library, we’ve decided to share some more memories from a few of last year’s participants. Ladies and gentleman, meet Raul, Jennie and Amy…
Who are you? Raul Morales
Where are you from? NYC, formerly from Argentina
What do...
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2012 Sketchbook Project Filling Up!
We’ve announced a bunch of new and exciting changes for the 2012 Sketchbook Project — new themes, custom sketchbooks, community-group partners and, of course, a World Tour! But we’re also making one significant shift behind the scenes, by placing a limit on the total number of participants who can sign up for the Project.
We want to ensure that the incredible work contributed to the...
2011 Sketchbook Homecoming: Thank You for...
Greetings, Art House Friends!
We wanted to shout out a big “Thank You!” to all of you who came out to celebrate the Sketchbook 2011 Tour Homecoming at the Brooklyn Art Library this weekend! Saturday was an especially gorgeous day in Brooklyn, and we couldn’t have wished for a sweeter crowd of artists, friends, & passers-by for an evening of perusing the library shelves and...
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“Love love it. How can I help?”
– Kim (via email)
We’re honored by the offers we receive to help out with the Sketchbook Project and we’d love to get more of the Art House community directly involved. This experience only exists thanks to all of you!
We’re looking for some Sketchbook Project contributors to join...
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Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 9 - Collage and...
Happy Thursday Sketchers!
Welcome to the 9th edition of Tip Jar Thursdays! Join us as we explore the work of a few very talented Sketchbook Project 2011 participants who have creatively demonstrated the techniques of collage & appropriation in their sketchbooks. A few have focused their use of appropriation on found imagery (i.e. pages from books & old photographs). Others have collaged...
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The Red Bench Series Part 3: this Thursday!
I never get tired of gazing at the wall of Sketchbooks here at the Brooklyn Art Library. But, when it is also accompanied by extremely talented musicians, the space becomes even more overwhelmingly filled with talent and creativity.
This Thursday, August 18th, will be the third installment of the Red Bench Series; a series at the Brooklyn Art Library featuring standing length concerts that...