 |
Chute, curator at Red Brick Common Public Art Gallery in Stony Plain, Alberta, was two years into her curatorial position when, as she writes, she "envisioned filling the gallery with pages of artists' sketchbooks, displayed nearly floor to ceiling." The idea was for visitors to immerse themselves as though "stepping inside the creative processes" of the artists included in the exhibition.
This book is a re-collection of—and an homage to—that very 2022 gallery exhibit, appropriately titled "Project Sketchbook." Chute's work preserves and celebrates twenty-six visual artists whose pages of personal, working sketchbooks were displayed within the gallery several years prior. Each artist presents, alongside images of their original sketchbook interiors, a "sketchbook statement," revealing insights into their varied artistic inspiration and creative professional practice, vis-à-vis the role of the sketchbook. Bios and headshots further accompany the artists represented.
Several fascinating, interconnected layers are at play in the "story behind the story," or "artwork behind the artwork," resulting in the end-product monograph Chute curates here, mirroring and preserving the initial, physical-gallery curatorial project. The exhibition placed gallery visitors intimately among the artists' actual sketchbook pages, thereby creating a sort of vulnerability on the part of the artists, allowing visual access into an array of rudimentary ideas bandied about for later, completed artworks neither yet fully refined nor realized.
With this retrospective publication, readers the world over can experience an intimate artistic thrill without ever stepping foot inside Red Brick Common. The result is endlessly intriguing—a behind-the-scenes, glossy, attractive, colorful work. For this reason, along with the sheer quality of Chute's preservation of the original, fascinating material, readers of frankly any age, background, or artistic leaning will find much to enjoy within these pages.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review
A 2026 Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist