Toxic Youth is an online exhibit of sketchbooks by Dana Jennings, on view at the University of New Hampshire Museum of Art’s website through April 2, 2021.

Jennings’ sketchbooks are full of writing and doodles and patterns and drawings, all inspired by his experiences working with his father in a New Hampshire factory. The factory was shut down by the EPA in the early 1980s and became a Superfund hazardous waste site. Jennings and his father have both suffered from a variety of serious health problems linked to the chemicals they were exposed to in the factory.

As you might expect with this sort of subject matter, some of the sketchbook drawings are quite intense and raw and nightmarish. You can flip through 3 sketchbooks on the website, and the page scans really give a feel for the sketchbooks and drawing materials used, as you see the smears of pencil dust and markers bleeding through the backs of pages.

A series of sketchbook workshops accompanied the exhibit over the last couple of months, all 45 minute sessions at lunchtime (for the Eastern time zone, at least) and open to any adults interested in sketching. The fee is $40 unless you are a UNH student. The last one takes place on Monday February 22.