How an innovative art project drew together creative spirits from around the world

This is a story of how a tiny spark of inspiration grew to become the biggest collection of artists’ sketchbooks in the world. How a brilliant idea was picked up and nurtured by creatives from more than 100 countries, who turned it into a record-breaking success. How tragedy struck and the story might have been lost, had it not been for the resilience of the community, determined to save its message for future generations.

At the tale’s heart is The Sketchbook Project, which was devised in 2006 by American art student Steven Peterman and originally called Art House Projects. ‘Initially we invited people to submit a sketchbook to our project, which they would get back,’ says Steven. ‘It was a way to share their stories. As the project grew, we realised it could become something special.’

Early days

At the beginning, Steven and his group would enjoy studying and discussing the sketchbooks, but didn’t collect them. ‘Then, in 2009, I had the idea to start the Brooklyn Art Library [BAL, to house the sketchbooks]. We wanted to create a close-circle experience where people could come and be inspired by others’ work. Social media helped us reach a lot of people without spending any money and we were lucky with our timing. We found ourselves in a successful spot and it grew organically.’

So much so, that by 2011 – when 20,000 had signed up – the collection stood at 30,000 sketchbooks and could claim the title ‘World’s biggest sketchbook collection’. Steven, who is also managing director of BAL, says that year ‘was a peak in our funding, too. We sort of managed it from chaos for a while ’til we figured out how to do things in a more reasonable way. We grew and shrank, but 2019 was our last really big year.’