Spartanburg, S.C. –  The Brooklyn Art Library’s Mobile Sketchbook Truck will roll into town next week, creating a three-day art event that is sure to inspire creative people of all ages, from all walks of life.

The Sketchbook Project is a crowd-sourced library that features 41,091 artists’ books contributed by creative people from more than 135 countries. The traveling exhibition of artist sketchbooks includes doodles, drawings, and scribbles. Art themes run the gamut, including the greatest story ever told, lists of ex-lovers and favorite songs, as well as subjects such as revenge, loss, grieving and death.

The University of South Carolina Upstate will host the mobile exhibit on Tuesday, Sept. 18 from noon to 4 p.m. outside the Humanities and Performing Arts Center. USC Upstate First Lady Tressa Kelly will open the event with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

“ARTSchella” will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 19 from 1 to 5 p.m. This hands-on event features music and theater performances, printmaking demonstrations, and a drawing table.

“The Sketchbook Project’s shiny black truck is filled with more than 4,000-plus volumes, crafted with the help of paint, pencil, glue and endless imagination,” said Dr. Mary Lou Hightower, associate professor of art education and director of the FOCUS Gallery at USC Upstate. “You can stop by and page through the volumes.”

Hightower hopes the traveling exhibition will inspire artists of all levels to participate in the Drawing Marathon to be held on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 12 to 4 p.m. at the UPSTATE Gallery on Main, where the Sketchbook Mobile Truck will relocate for the final day.

“We hope to have the drawing marathon extend beyond the Gallery out onto the downtown streets and sidewalks,” said Dr. Jane Nodine, university gallery director at USC Upstate. “We plan to have drawing located on the sidewalks, in the park across from the gallery, inside the gallery, and at the coffee shop next door.”

The University will provide paper and drawing materials but participants may wish to bring a personal sketchbook and materials. Nodine also suggests participants bring along a folding chair or pad to sit on, and possibly a drawing board.

The events are free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Dr. Mary Lou Hightower, associate professor of art education and director of the FOCUS Gallery at USC Upstate, 864-503-5817.

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