moly_x: an international moleskine sketchbook exchange January 21 - March 6, 2011 in the Open Book lobby gallery Opening reception Friday, February 18; 6-9pm in concurrence with the opening of Parts Of A Whole   Coordinated programming: Tuesday, February 1 Informal Q&A with project founder Marty Harris at MCBA and the Open Book Lobby Gallery; drop in 7-9pm Monday, February 21 Presentation at MCBA's Visual Journaling Collective See MCBA's Adult Workshops schedule for more info.   In just three short years, moly_x: an international moleskine sketchbook exchange has grown to over 400 contributing artists on six continents. The exhibition features work from artists in Toronto, New York, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Minneapolis, Cape Town, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Moscow, Sydney, Rome, Mexico City, and hundreds of other cities all around the world. Marty Harris, illustrator and artist, founded moly_x almost by accident at the end of 2008. He had started sharing sketchbook drawings on one of the web’s many Moleskine sketchbook related groups, and thought it might be nice to start an exchange. He invited seven artists, hoping that three or four would be interested. All seven participated. One group turned into two groups, turned into more than 80 groups in total. Through the moly_x pool on Flickr.com, small groups of 4 to 6 artists are formed, loosely based on common interests and ability. Each artist begins by making a 2-4 page entry in to his or her own Japanese Fold Pocket Moleskine Sketchbook. The book is sent to the next artist in the group via snail mail, and so on until the finished book is filled gloriously with artwork from the four corners of the globe. Many of the groups have themes: Shakespeare, favorite recipes, Exquisite Corpse, wildlife, music, Brothers Grimm, even zombie pin-ups. One brilliant moly_xer suggested a portrait exchange, based on The Portrait Party by California cartoonist and teacher Rama Hughes. moly_x_portrait has been a big success.Each group has a blog where the artists post their work. Several teachers have also found inspiration in moly_x. Melissa Woodlawn, moly_xer and high school art instructor in Allentown, PA, does a Portrait Party in class each year, and has arranged an exchange with a sister school in China. moly_x boasts of high schooler exchanges everywhere from Harlem to Hunan. For more information about participating, links to blogs documenting the 88 (so far!) sketchbook exchanges, or to view many, many, many more images from moly_x contributing artists, visit the moly_x group page on Flickr.
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