Evelyn Dufner

Lost Journal Project

Lost Journal Project

During the pandemic's isolation, I found myself with a blank journal from the Brooklyn Art Library's Sketchbook Project shifting among my things... a jostle to do art in a way that was uneraseable and vulnerable. It took me nearly 2 years to finish the journal, and with deep apologies (and a reprieve from the project that required it to be submitted within a year), I took the final piece to my friend Katy, and scanned its pages before shipping it in a Priority envelope to Brooklyn. Later in that year, as I waited for it to be digitized and searchable on their archives, I discovered that it was nowhere to be found. I contacted them, asking if it was simply a backlog. However, I wasn't aware that the project had gone up in flames during a move, and that my journal may or may not have been on that truck, because they had no record of receiving it. I grieved. Already so hard to let go of art back then... I had to let that one go. However, I got myself together and sent them the scanned pages to be added to their digital archive. That is all that exists, unless it was lost or stolen, or the reprieve from my own digital imagery.

I finally, while dealing with my first ever case of COVID (now, in May of 2025!) I took some time between coughs and fatigue to upload what I have on record. The inventory names reflect the page number (roughly) and whether it is a left or right page. I took time to type the journalized thoughts that were legible (adding vulnerability to my world yet again). I did not include the cover - a hot mess that never brought me joy because the pressure to name something and bring interest to my journal was too much. It was a bird's nest of an effort.

https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/artistaevelyn/collection/lost-journal-sketchbook-project

You can find the Lost Journal pages by doing a search on my archive for just that: "Lost Journal". For more history on this project, see https://hyperallergic.com/806540/the-ineffable-charm-of-an-artists-sketchbook-brooklyn-art-library/

Also, the Brooklyn Library https://brooklynartlibrary.org/

And the remaining projects and their locations are archived on that site.