By David F. Rooney
You, too, can be one of the city’s Monsters of Art. All it takes is one of the project’s 72 sketchbooks and the determination to fill its 80 pages with your choice of sketches, photos, doodles and what-not in time for a mass exhibition of the completed pads in late March.
The Monsters of Art project — the name is a take on an old musical group, The Monsters of Folk — was conceived by two young newcomers to Revelstoke — Karen McClinton and Sarah MacDougall — as a way to assist the Columbia Valley Skateboard Society, which wants to rebuild the skate board facility at Kovach Park.
“We’d like to make a contribution to the community and this seemed like a good way to do that,” McClinton said.
MacDougall said the project is based on the wildly successful Sketchbook Project in New York that saw thousands of people participate. The sketchbooks went on a tour in the United States and ultimately became part of the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Art Library.
The Monsters of Art project is a little more modest.
“We’ve got 72 sketchbooks,” McClinton said. “They’re $15 a book and you can get them at Castle Joe Books, Society Snow and Skate, Sangha Bean and The Cabin. When you’re done you return to the place where you bought it and it will be entered into the exhibition we have planned for March.”
The deadline for for completing your book is March 19 and exhibition will be held at Mackenzie’s Restaurant at the Powder Springs Inn on March 26 from 1 pm until 4 pm and, beginning at 7 pm at the Last Drop until closing.
MacDougall said the Monsters of Art project is open to anyone who cares to participate, regardless of age.
The two have spoken with art teacher Rene Terlinden at Revelstoke Secondary School and would like to include elementary students and seniors in the project, too.
In the meantime, if this sounds like something you’d like to do you can pick up a sketchbook at Castle Joe Books, Society Snow and Skate, Sangha Bean or The Cabin.
You can find out more about the project at www.monstersofart.ca and the project’s Facebook page.
