Check out the sketchbooks of Somerville’s artists at Nave Gallery beginning this weekend.

By Laura Stiffler

This Friday, January 9, from 6 to 8 p.m., the Nave Gallery Annex will be holding the opening reception for its upcoming exhibition, The Sketchbook Show. The showcase features works from 20 different artists and focuses primarily on the sketches from their personal sketchbooks.

The show is co-curated by Ellie Laramee-Byers and Rachel Mello, two longtime resident artists of Somerville. The idea for the show came from impromptu “sketch days” hosted by the two, where local artists were invited to share their work and learn from one another.

The idea was a success and allowed the artists to realize something they had known all along, the extreme importance sketching has for the creative mind.

With the work of so many different artists being showcased in this exhibition, the show promises to be interesting and diverse. By having almost no guidelines, sketches can be very raw and freeing for the artist. There is very little commitment to the work and with the notion that it does not have to be precious, both the artist and the work can just be.

“Sometimes you get stuck, so wrapped up in producing work you forget about the creative process,” said Heather Balchunas, one of the artists whose work is featured in the show.

By reverting back to one of the most primal senses of creating and inventing, artists can come up with different ideas and a fresh way to progress forward with their work. “Artists use sketchbooks for as many different reasons as there are artists: daily practice, planning book, travelogue, dream journal. Sketching happens from life, memory, ideas or repetition,” said Mello about the theory behind the show.

The location of the show fits its concept perfectly. The Nave Gallery Annex sits right in Davis Square in an old two-family at 55 Chester Street. Opened in 2013, the Annex is the second exhibition space for the Nave Gallery (located in Teele Square).

The Annex is a large space, split up into smaller rooms with high ceilings and large windows. The gallery is designed to provide space for the collaboration and presentation of art of all media, but work of a collaborative, non-commercial nature is encouraged.

An entirely volunteer run organization, The Nave Gallery Annex has been transformed in so many different ways. Depicted well in The Sketchbook Show, the space truly is comprised and built upon how artists relate to other artists’ work.

In researching this article and interviewing different artists, this reporter was encouraged to sketch before beginning to write. The idea was to spark innovation, open oneself up and create something different and new.

In all avenues of life, its very easy to get caught up making something look, act or behave the way its “supposed to be.” With the release of that notion, the product is able to have so much more life and what gets created is truly honest and beautiful; which is exactly what can be seen on the walls of The Nave Gallery Annex.

For more information on The Sketchbook Show, visit http://navegallery.org/wp/the-sketchbook-show.