The Sketchbook Project: A Free Community Art Project on Massachusetts' South Shore
If you’ve poked around the Creative Pathways site, you may be wondering, “How is collaborative community art made?” Creative Pathways has created a way for collaborative art to be made in a way that is free, approachable, and community-centered with The Sketchbook Project.
As a South Shore, Massachusetts art nonprofit, Creative Pathways supplies sketchbooks and supplies to local organizations and individuals who want to host The Sketchbook Project. Community members then add drawings, doodles, and collage to shared sketchbooks that travel from studios to classrooms to businesses and other public spaces. Creative Pathways intentionally includes community members of all ages and abilities, without any artistic experience required.
If connecting with your local community is on your list of goals this year, hosting a sketchbook at your office, school, or home is an easy place to start.
What Is The Sketchbook Project?
The Sketchbook Project is the living cornerstone of collaborative art at Creative Pathways. Each sketchbook travels from person to person, collecting contributions from people throughout the community and becoming a layered record of the community that filled it.
Participation costs nothing. You don't need a plan, supplies, or any drawing skill.
How One Sketchbook Became a Nonprofit
Creative Pathways started with a single sketchbook and a toddler. About five years ago, founder and Massachusetts artist Beth Bailey shared a sketchbook with her daughter, who was two at the time. Drawing with a toddler? It immediately made Beth drop her inhibitions and stop taking art so seriously.
She wanted to bring that same unencumbered creativity to other people, and eventually the one sketchbook grew into 30 sketchbooks traveling throughout the South Shore and Boston…and that led to the Creative Pathways nonprofit.
How to Add to a Sketchbook
The rules are simple:
Fill the white space. Cover as much of the page as you like.
Build on what came before. Respond to the previous participant's marks.
Set up the next person. Leave something that invites the next artist in.
That might mean dropping in a big blue triangle. It might mean illustrating a place you love, like the pottery studio drawn in one sketchbook. Either way, you can't mess up… these sketchbooks are eventually cut up anyway!
Art for All Ages and Abilities
These sketchbooks go to all of Beth's events, and she deliberately works with clients spanning all walks of life. A single page might hold work from a professional artist, a child in a summer camp program, and everyone in between, sometimes drawn right on top of each other.
Where to Find a Sketchbook
Sketchbooks have been out for public participation at several South Shore locations:
Levitate in Hingham
Frame Center in Hanover
Unplug & Be Mindful Yoga Studio in Marshfield
Others are filled privately in professional artist studios, including those of Justin LaRocca Hansen and Stacey Buckley, and in the classrooms of teachers Kristina Junco and Jocelyn Kelly. She’s even had sketchbooks visit corporate offices like UPPAbaby, where they give staff a creative break during the workday.
What Happens to the Finished Sketchbooks?
Once a sketchbook is full, Beth cuts into it and turns the pages into collage material for her own artwork, made in her studio and on the road. Community drawings become the building blocks of new original pieces.
You can shop Beth Bailey's original art and prints. All purchases support Creative Pathways.
Take Part
Learn about the sketchbook project and Creative Pathways' other community art offerings, including school residencies and murals, on the programs page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Sketchbook Project really free?
Yes. Participating costs nothing.
Do I need to be an artist to contribute?
No. The project welcomes all ages and abilities, from beginners to professional artists.
Where can I draw in a sketchbook near me?
Public sketchbooks are at Levitate in Hingham, Frame Center in Hanover, and Unplug & Be Mindful Yoga Studio in Marshfield.
What if I make a mistake?
There are no mistakes. Every sketchbook is eventually cut up and used as collage material.
Where does the artwork end up?
Beth Bailey turns the finished pages into collage material for her original art, which you can buy in the Creative Pathways shop.
