Ever wonder what it would be like to watch artists and their work in progress? Passers-by and gallery visitors will get that chance this weekend during the second Sketch24 fundraiser for Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts.

Sketch24 kicked off at 12 p.m. Friday when several Bahamian artists and people who just wanted to participate began drawing for the event, which lasts for a full 24 hours and ends today at 12 p.m.

Participants sign up for as many hours as they choose and agree to give Popop whatever drawings they produce. The drawings by well-known and up and coming artists are then all sold for $300 or $500, based on the size of the drawings.

Popopstudios Founder/Director John Cox said anyone is welcome to participate.

Artists are provided with the material and media to create whatever drawings they choose — abstract, from a model or from memory. Popopstudios also provides food and support to all participants, particularly those who draw late into the night and early morning.

The event started with Sketch24 partner Antonius Roberts at Roberts’ Hillside House Gallery on Cumberland Street, giving the fundraiser visibility and providing passers-by in busy downtown the opportunity to see and participate if they so chose. At 6 p.m. Friday, Sketch24 moved over to Popopstudios, until 12 p.m. today.

At the end of the process, the drawings will be exhibited and sold in aid of the studio.

“We take all of the drawings, and between noon and six, we install them in the gallery at Popop and we exhibit them,” said Cox. “We will have an opening so people can come in and see the work. An exciting thing about it is that all these different level artists participate, like really well known artists. Last year, we had people like Kim Smith and Max Taylor and Kishan Munroe participating, as well as COB students, and anyone who wanted to participate, but all of the drawings were the same two prices.

“Regardless of who the artist is or the size of the paper, as long as it’s on one side or the other of the scale of the paper, it’s that amount of money. And I think people like the idea. It’s a fun thing to do for the people that actually participate because it’s a bit of a party. And the people that come to [the exhibition] like the immediacy of the drawings just being finished hours before. They like the fact that you can’t really get much more original than that.”

Some of the participating artists include Cox, Heino Schmid, Antonius Roberts, Allan Wallace, Kendal Hanna, Jace McKinney and Michael Edwards, as well as members of the COB art department. Proceeds from Sketch24 will go mainly towards the residency program, which is one of the main pillars for the studio.

The Popopstudios Artists in Residence program exists as an extension of the gallery’s mission to promote, expose and engage new and challenging developments in contemporary art. Through the program, international artists are invited to spend one to three months working and living on the gallery grounds. During their time at Popopstudios artists are asked to give a public presentation of their working practice as well as coordinate a one day workshop targeted at school children. Artists staying for longer periods are also invited to put on a small exhibition of the work they’ve produced while in The Bahamas.

Sketch24 is also sponsored by Scotiabank, Dunkin’ Donuts, Coca-Cola, Burns House, Butler & Sands and The Pro Gallery.

By Reva Cartwright-Carroll
The Nassau Guardian
Arts & Culture
Published: Saturday, February 2, 2013