As a child in her native Puerto Rico, Jennyfer Marie was immersed in the island’s art-and music-filled culture. Perhaps so much so that she took it for granted—until one day when she watched as an older cousin drew a picture of Mickey Mouse.
As young Marie’s eyes studied the drawing, her hand began to replicate the image with a pencil. The experience ignited “a spark in my brain,” she recalls—after which nothing would be the same.
Upon moving to Connecticut as a teenager, Marie attended an arts high school where she majored in technical theater. “That’s where I made the most connection to the art world,” she says. Then, when Marie was 17, the family moved to Florida.
There she began selling homemade jewelry and merchandise bearing her illustrations at markets. About three years later, she found work as a freelance illustrator and designer for such top brands as Nespresso and Walmart. Then her creative endeavors expanded to include event planning and pop-up arts events.
Although she was plenty busy, Marie wanted to meet more creatively inclined people. Markets seemed like a logical place to make new friends, but she found that “the reality is, if you’re working a market, you really can’t walk around and talk to people.”
Surely, she believed, other creatives—whose work is often solitary by nature—felt the same void. So in October 2023, stocked with art supplies donated by Sam Flax, Marie launched Orlando Sketchbook Club.
The following year, StickerPrint Go sponsored club meetings and provided free stickers for attendees. “I always joked that people only came for the sticker,” says Marie. But people did come (and still come) for monthly or semimonthly meetings that last up to three hours. Usually attendance ranges from 80 to 100 people.
Meeting venues change and often include museums as well as outdoor locations and such small businesses as The Neighbors Orlando in East End Market. The bar and restaurant donates proceeds to provide free sketchbooks.
The club is open to all ages and skill levels, from beginners to professionals. Each meeting features an optional theme. “Some people are already nervous enough to come to an event like this, and their brain kind of fogs. So it’s really nice to have a prompt,” says Marie.
Marie watches as skills are born or honed and friendships are formed. She also watches as other hobbyists—crafters, book lovers and even bakers (thanks in part to the Bake Club she also founded)—have begun to coalesce.
“I think it’s really beautiful,” she says. “What I’ve always said is the community has always been here, but we’ve just needed more spaces.”
For more information about Orlando Sketchbook Club, follow it on Instagram @sketchbookcluborlando.
