Have you been missing your Open Drawing Studio Project updates?  Well... there's NEWS!

During our month of drawing, the owner of Zebu Forno came to the studio looking for artists to exhibit work from September 15 to October 15 in the local coffee shop.  Bill was moved by and excited about the project and we decided to run a group show featuring drawings from the Open Studio.

We held a call for entries and collected framed work from the Open Drawing Studio Project's most prominent players, hung the show, and tonight will share it formally with the public!  The show was curated based on attendance to the studio, and we are proud to show the fabulous work and incredible talent shared last August.  The only additional curatorial decision we made was to make sure that each of our portrait models sourced through Hospitality Link has a portrait hanging in the show.  We wanted to make sure that if any of them happened through the coffee show or responded to an invitation, they'd be able to see the work they helped to generate.  Other than that, artists chose how they wanted to represent themselves

So... come meet the artists, have wine from St. Peter's, food from Zebu Forno, and see some great drawings in a new context and maybe even take one home!  Everything in the show is for sale and prices range from $35 to $550.  100% of the purchase prices goes directly to the artist.

Mostly, of course, we'd love you to be part of tonight's celebration because without your support and encouragement, dear Kickstarter backers, this project wouldn't have been nearly as successful or half as much fun.   

All the best,

Chris & Danielle

Below is the postcard image for tonight's event and for the month-long exhibition!

Dear Backers,

The Open Drawing Studio Project has run it’s course… and now we’re hard at work on compiling your rewards!  They’ll be coming to you soon.  Thanks again for being part of this project and for following along on our month-long drawing adventure.

Two double model sessions, a pile of portraiture and figure drawing, and a few mornings gathering in the church have capped off the Open Drawing Studio Project. 

A total attendance of at least 128 for a total 1719+ hours of drawing… and that even includes cutting the project a day and a half short with a nod to Hurricane Irene.  Even at our last session, we had four new artists join the ranks!

We’ve received some incredible thank you notes thus far… Here are some highlights… “It was truly a labor of love on your part and I am very grateful to have been a participant.  It was such a wonderful opportunity for all of us artists on so many levels.” Another said, “It was wonderful to be amongst real artists who came out of the woodwork to participate in your exciting project.  We could see first-hand how you both and the other artists practice your skills and indeed we have both learned so much from watching and discussing with you all.” And another, “You two are absolutely, flat-out the best! Thanks so much for all you have been/are giving us. You are a miracle.”  And another, simply, “It was heaven.”

If that doesn’t make ya’ll feel pretty good about giving us the backing to make this project happen, I’m not sure what could.

All our love and many thanks again,

Chris & Danielle Merzatta

(written last Monday, August 21...)

One Week To Go!

The Open Drawing Studio Project continues to be a huge success thanks to the wonderful participation of so many great artists, the accessibility and amenities of the workspace, and of course, the generosity of the project backers.  THANK YOU!!!

We’ve been gathering in the sanctuary of St. Peter’s during the morning sessions and some wonderful drawings of the interior of the space are brewing.  The church lends itself to lessons on perspective and it’s been great to share some formal drawing tricks while we work.  This is especially good for students who have been through exercises on line, value, seeing, proportion, etc.  What a great thing to be able to synthesize those new skills in a final piece.

On Friday this week we hosted a vaudeville troupe called ‘White Elephant’-  Four models and countless costume changes for three hours of drawing, prizes, music, drinks and more.  Dr. Sketchy North Jersey set up the evening and our artists had a great time with their anti-art school attitude.  It was a fun and refreshing Friday night.   For those more formally inclined, we hosted a 3-hour portrait session simultaneously in another room.   We loved having such different sensibilities of drawing happening together and seeing the play between the different modes of working.  What a great time!

For Saturday and Sunday afternoon, we arranged for two three-hour sessions of the same portrait model in the same pose to be able to offer a six-hour drawing experience and the chance to get involved in a more time consuming drawing or painting, etc.  That was a great experience and Chris, in particular, loved completing a drawing on Sunday that had given him real trouble on Saturday.  Jackie, our awesome model from Hospitality Link, has at least a two dozen portraits of him floating about now! Jackie was so proud of the drawings and his experience modeling… he took lots of photographs of the artists work and said he’s been showing everyone he knows. 

Then, last night we hosted our second double figure-model session-  This time we had Bobbie Golden, who has been modeling for 35 years and is known in the community as ‘the Legend’, and her protégé Tanja Peter-Lewis, who has been modeling for just a year but is completely phenomenal.  They did a wonderful job working off of each other and choosing engaging and complicated poses and the artists made incredible drawings to cap off this great week at the studio.

Thank you again, Team ODSP, for making this project possible.

Fancy stats from this week and photos below….

Number of people using the studio:  120 at least… But I think there are a few floaters that didn’t make it onto our attendance sheet… 

Total attendance this week: 194

Total attendance overall: 462

Highest number of people at any one session:  19

Average number of people at each session this week:  13.9

Average number of people at each session overall: 11

Total number of session attendance in hours this week: 582

Total number of session attendance in hours overall: 1386

Total number of different models we’ve drawn overall: 28

Total hours of Open Drawing Studio Project Sessions: 126 

Here are some more links to our project in the news:

http://morristowngreen.com/2011/08/21/hey-this-looks-sketchy-dr-sketchy-decamps-at-morristown-art-class/

http://morristown.patch.com/articles/photos-open-drawing-studio-project-gets-started-in-morristown#photo-7292582

Hello Kickstarters!

Today marks the halfway point of the Open Drawing Studio Project.  We’ve held 28 sessions of drawing in these first two weeks, had 85 different people through the studio to draw, and currently boast a total attendance of 268.

We artists are so incredibly grateful for this opportunity and daily we hear thanks and enthusiasm for the project from participants.   The space, models, and materials generate stacks of new drawings every day and new artistic partnerships are brewing.  Teachers are booking new models, students are finding new teachers, and we're all making new friends.

Here are some fun stats and great photos from the studio so far….

Number of people using the studio:  85

Total attendance: 268

Highest number of people at one session: 18

Average number of people at each session: 9.5

Total number of Figure Drawing sessions:  9

Total number of Portrait sessions: 9

Total number of Instruction sessions: 7

Total number of Still-life sessions: 2

Drawing Party with costumed models: 1

Total hours of drawing studio: 84

Total number of session attendance in hours: 804

Donations this week:  Colored pencils, a HEAP of amazing art books and a supply of huge crisp white paper, a stock of wonderful Canson tonal pastel papers, a light stand and easel to use for the month, wine, brownies, popcorn, Chinese food and a even delivery of super delicious cookies from the wonderful folks at C’est Cheese Bakery.

The list of towns that people have come from to attend the Open Drawing Studio Project includes Morristown, Madison, Nutley, Randolph, Watchung, Mendham, Galway, Fanwood, Bridgewater, West Caldwell, Rockaway, Succasunna, Denville, Mountain Lakes, Booton, Sparta, Livingston, Lebanon, Parsippany, Millburn, Harding, Lincoln Park, East Hanover, Woodbridge, Flemington, Patterson, Clark, Dover, Newton, Carteret and New Orleans, LA. 

Well, Team, What a start up! 

In the first 4 days of the project, we have had 41 people come to draw in the studio, some for as many as 5 sessions already.   Another half dozen or so have come in to see the space and to get acquainted, pick up a calendar and get a feel for what we’re doing.  Our first life drawing session had 15 at their easels, last night had 12.  Our first morning session had 1 guest, by the third day we had 4. 

When an artist walks into the room for the first time, we give a quick little tour of the studio.  Because of your generous backing of this project, we are able to offer a great selection of dry medium (charcoals, pencils, pastels, etc.), drawing boards, and papers in a huge variety of size and color.  Then, the artist chooses an easel, table, or drawing board and gets set up for the session.  We give a calendar too, and a postcard to stick on the fridge at home.  We hope people that come to the studio feel like part of a team and come often… so maybe seeing the card every morning will help.  We even added a little attendance sheet to the studio-  Artists make an ‘X’ underneath each session they attend.  This will help us keep track of what worked and for whom, and is an exciting way to track how many we are reaching and how many times they’re coming and to what kind of sessions.

So far, those coming to the morning sessions are looking for a little more in the way of 'learning' and it's such a gift to be able to respond to that by just starting to teach.  We're now offering instruction with assignment drawings focusing on negative space, line quality, form, etc.  We didn’t plan it that way, but it seems we’ve tapped into a need of the community and it’s great fun to be able to answer the call.

The afternoon session is a bit more independent.  On Friday afternoon, 12 people came to draw during our portrait session and the results were fantastic.  My grandparents sat for us and did a fabulous job being still and stunning.  Both Morristown Green and Morristown Patch were here photographing the session... I'll post the links if we get into the news! :-)  Yesterday we had our first portrait model sourced through ‘Hospitality Link,’ an organization running a drop-in work/live resource center on the St. Peter’s campus.  Trink, who runs that project, was thrilled to be able to offer these short-term gigs to her clients.  We pay $30 for seven 20 minute sittings in a 3-hour period.  It’s great to pass that money to someone who really needs it.   Right now, there are 6 people in the studio drawing, taking turns posing for 20-40 minute portraits of each other.  Chris and I are offering some tips to the mostly new-to-drawing group and the advancement in the marks from todays first drawing to now is so inspiring.  And it's only been two hours.

The evening sessions at the Open Drawing Studio Project are formal life-drawing sessions.  Some people arrive to the studio for their very first drawing session with a nude model, and many are incredibly seasoned professionals, others somewhere in between.  Last night we had two life drawing teachers in the room and two people that had never drawn the figure before.  There was a wonderful give and take-  new students looked for guidance and so the teachers met the need.    Our professional models are incredible and their posing has generated hundreds and hundreds of new drawings in just a few days.

A huge thanks again to all the incredible people that have supported this project and made it possible.  We’re working hard to spend your money well and the results are in the charcoal.

xDanielle