BROOKLYN ART LIBRARY IS HOME TO THE SKETCHBOOK PROJECT – a compendium of over 40,000 artists’ sketchbooks from over 135 countries. The library serves as a reading room where you can get cozy and spend an afternoon enjoying artwork in a hands-on experience. Each sketchbook is individually barcoded and cataloged with searchable details, like where the book came from, the materials used, the artist name, tag words and oh-so-much-more. Anyone can contribute to The Sketchbook Project. Available for purchase at the library are all the tools and art supplies a doodler, parent, student, writer or artist requires to complete and decorate their personalized book. Contributions from first-time artists and children sit alongside the work of professional illustrators and painters. Once your book is filled, just ship it back and it becomes part of the project. Librarians add a barcode and catalogue each book with searchable details. Visitors to the library can then physically flip through the work, engaging with an artist’s visual diary from all corners of the world. Books have been used to memorialize friends or family members, as a time capsule, a travel journal and even a marriage proposal (which was actually hidden within a featured sketchbook.) Located in Williamsburg Brooklyn, the library encourages interaction between artist and those they reach through their work.
BROOKLYN ART LIBRARY, 28 Frost Street Brooklyn, NY http://brooklynartlibrary.com