The sketchbook as artist's book.

Students delight in making books. This bookmaking project merges the idea of sketchbooks with artist's books--books made by, and for, the artist in which ideas and memories get formulated and stored for later use or reminiscence.

Historical Sketchbooks

Leonardo da Vinci is often referred to as "The Father of Sketchbooks." Of course, his sketchbooks were based on curiosity and scientific studies, but he did personalize his entries with musings and collectibles. He also kept his sketchbooks in his possession throughout his life.

Frida Kahlo's and Vincent van Gogh's sketchbooks have become famous enough to be reproduced. Perhaps most artists do not sell their sketchbooks while they are still alive because sketchbooks are like diaries and toolboxes.

Student Sketchbooks

Young art students can be taught to appreciate the important qualities of sketchbooks. For many students, making a sketch might seem easier and more exciting than writing three paragraphs, and sketches help students solidify description for later writing or art assignments. Sketch studies are a lot like using a magnifying glass--the artist can hone in on an interesting aspect of something seen or experienced.

Affordable Sketchbooks

Few elementary schools can afford to provide each student with a hardcover spiral sketchbook. Each year, I have students in all elementary grades make a sketchbook by covering the sides of cereal boxes with hand-decorated paper, and sewing about thirty sheets of plain paper in between to bind them.

Using Sketchbooks

Using sketchbooks in my classes can mean collecting cool magazine images, doing frottage rubbings, sketching, of designing. Students also staple into their sketchbooks any pre-sketches of projects. This ensures that students don't throw away their preliminary work.

We also dedicate a few classes to collectively making things for the sketchbooks such as marbled endpapers, paste papers, or comic strips so the sketchbooks seem more than just an end-of-class activity. The results of our sketchbook additives serve as a code of memories about making marks and decisions.

A primary quality of a sketchbook is its portability. Students can take their sketchbooks home or on family trips to draw from life or firsthand experiences. For students with disabilities, a sketchbook offers an alternative to drawing by becoming a folder of memory book for collections of found images and ideas.

Sketchbook Club

Our school also has a Sketchbook Club. Members in grade five work in their sketchbooks during schoolwide activity of enrichment sessions, usually once a week. Handouts are provided to inspire students to try new routes toward sketching and planning drawings.

As either a blueprint or a visual diary, sketchbooks are appealing to students and remain a time-honored artistic tradition that should not be ignored.

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students explore and understand prospective content for works of art.

WEB LINK

www.farmersmarketonline.com/howto15.htm

Deb Bartlet is an art specialist at Read and Oaklawn Elementary Schools in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. [e-mail]