GREENSBORO — A sketchbook to an artist can be a private thing. In it he or she is free to explore their innermost thoughts and emotions. It’s also an outlet for half-baked ideas, seedlings of a creation.
They can even be works of art in and of themselves.
This week, the Center for Visual Artists will present an exhibition featuring unframed sketches and sketchbooks by a group of local artists.
Titled “The Sketchbook Collective,” it opens Friday and runs through Jan. 20. “It gives the public a view into the artist’s world,” said Kristy Thomas, the gallery’s curator.
In November, Thomas, along with artist Roymieco Carter, passed around blank sketchbooks to local artists and asked them to fill them with sketches.
In addition, artists also contributed single-page sketches while others have loaned their personal sketchbooks for the exhibit.
“We thought, 'It would be great to see what people are thinking about,’” said Carter, director of the visual arts program at A&T State University.
The sketches will be for sale for less than $100 each.
“In January, nobody is buying anything,” Thomas said. “Artists want to sell their work, so we asked, 'How can we do that in January?’”
Carter said The Sketchbook Collective project fosters a collaborative spirit among local artists.
“Everybody is curious about what everyone else does,” he said. “You get to peek in and see what another artist is thinking about. It becomes a source of inspiration.”
Some have used other artists’ drawings in the sketchbooks as launching points for their own sketches.
Carter also asked his students at A&T to contribute sketches. He said many younger artists are afraid to share their unfinished work, but that he has found the practice invaluable.
“They don’t realize that when you share an idea, it grows that much faster,” he said.
Thomas said, “It’s about putting your ideas out there and getting feedback.”
The participating artists were also encouraged not to over think their contributions; the point of sketching is putting ideas down on paper, not honing them to their polished, final form.
And while sketching can be a means to an end, Carter believes they can be appreciated as art, without further embellishment. The viewer fills in the blanks with his or her own imagination, which Carter says can be an even more rewarding experience than viewing a piece of finished art.
“When you look at sketches, you take the work of others where you want it to go,” he said. “It’s a story of potential.”
Contact Bruce Buchanan brucebuc@bellsouth.net
