Extension by Jennie Rosenbaum

I’m currently working on an international project called the sketchbook project. it’s a really nifty idea and I’m pretty excited about it. The concept is that they send out a moleskine notebook to the artist with a theme and a due date. our job is to fill that notebook up with our responses to the theme and send it back. All the notebooks are presented in a roving exhibition throughout the US, then are housed in a permanent collection and library where they are carefully catalogued and anyone can look up works by theme, content or the artist.

I like this for a number of reasons. first, it’s a project with a deadline that I can work on – even if I am lying down. I work best with deadlines. second, it’s always good to stretch my mental muscles and work to a theme, especially one I haven’t worked on before. and third, the scope of this project is huge! the exhibition schedule and permanent collection are very exciting. the final reason is that I love the idea of someone going there in 10 years or so to look at my sketchbook and my processes. I think in our hearts all artists yearn for that.

my theme is over the top. like any good project manager I started off with a mind map and I will be showing how I go from an idea to a sketch to a 3D image to (hopefully) a painting. I have a lot of ideas for the theme which I think may even spawn some new show ideas and series. it’s all about inspiration and the biggest inspiration of all is the thought that maybe one day it might inspire someone else.