Art Swap

I would like to try something new this year with my students. An "Art Swap"  I am looking for anyone who teaches school aged kids- Kinder- 12th- who would be interested in swapping either ATC's or Postcards with my students.  All swaps would be scheduled with them happening approximately every other month through the school year and each will have a theme so you don't have to come up with something to do.

There would be no exchange of any personal information since all swap items would be sent to my studio and I will distribute them to my students. I really want to get my students to experience something outside of just my studio. If you are interested PLEASE contact me. I'd like to get the first one set up for October.

Thanks!

Here's My Heart!

A few months ago while surfing Etsy I came across a shop that I totally fell in love with. Altered Artifacts has an amazing shop. She creates collage sheets of vintage images and ephemera for artists to use in their artwork. I am also following her blog. Inka has a great shop, great blog and is a really nice person!

I volunteered to create some pieces using one of her new collage sheets. The theme of the collage sheet I was given to work with is called "Here's My Heart"

I am not a heart person. Never have been. So this was challenging for me to work with. That's a good thing because it made me work harder. Even though Inka said no deadline I put a self imposed one on me because I know what a procrastinator I can be.

The piece is called " I will love you forever". Back in August I attended a three day creative conference in Chicago. One of the classes was all about creating backgrounds using medias I had never played with before. I left the workshop with 10 6 x 6 canvas panels with some pretty interesting textures and layers on them. The background for this piece is one of those panels. It has layers of paper ephemera collaged over paint and then textured with bubble wrap and lace and this new product from Krylon called spray gesso (great stuff by the way!) The three cherubs are images from Altered Artifacts. The rest of the items in the collage were all found in the studio. The white rose and two butterflies are stickers, the stars and the large cherub at the bottom left of the collage are rubber stamps I had on hand. using StazOn Ink Pad in brown ( this too a wonderful product for rubber stamping on just about anything). In the upper right corner is a portion of a gold foil doily with a resin 3-D face.

The second piece I made for Altered Artifacts is an ATC (artist trading card) called "Be Mine"  The background for this ATC I made using a Distress Ink Pad by Tim Holz. These stamp pads give you a great grunge look. I  generally use these inks by rubbing it over the blank ATC card. in the upper right corner I used a calligraphic line stamp and then placed a pink flower made out of acrylic jewels. The two cherubs were cut from one the vintage valentines on the Altered Artifacts collage sheet. I covered over the hearts these two little darlings were holding with faceted red acrylic jewel hearts. Unfortunately my photo doesn't pick up the brilliance of these little gems.

I think I created a monster

This is a good thing. You know not all monsters are scary. My students catch on fairly quickly that there are some words and phrases in my classes that are not acceptable.

"I can't"

"That's too hard"

"I'm bored"

.............................................are the biggies

I'm bored are two words that make me crazy. Maybe it's because I knew when I was a kid if I said I was bored my  mother would have a list as long as my arm of things for me to do before I could even finish saying it. Oh, and it usually contained housework. So I learned real fast to occupy my time on my own.

Sometimes in class kids will reach a stopping point on their piece and there is about 15 minutes of class left or less. I usually would let them do what I call free drawing. They could draw anything they wanted. This year I have a different plan. The week before classes began I set up the table in the gallery with papers, glues, rubber stamps, and some random ephemera. I didn't say a word about it to the kids. Yesterday two of the kids showed up to class early and were wandering through the gallery. When they saw the table they asked what all this stuff was for. I explained to them it was for making an ATC.

ATC's or Artists Trading Cards are little  original pieces of art that are the same size as a deck of playing cards. They are meant to be traded only and not bought or sold. I then told the kids that if they made a card they could keep it OR they could trade it for one of the cards on my board. I had about a dozen cards that I had made on the board for just this purpose. As the kids started working two more students showed up and the next thing I knew the entire class was gathered around my little table making ATC's. It cut into class time by 10 minutes they were so focused on what they were doing. I finally got them to finish their cards so we could get to the art project. By the end of class cards had been traded on the board several times.

I am going to keep the table supplied all year and see what happens. I'd like to see each one of my students collect at least 24 cards by the end of the year. I am also encouraging people who wander into the studio to create an ATC to trade too.  I would say that I have "perfectly captured" their interest with this activity!

Tempus fugit! let's have some fun then

What is an Artist Trading Card? Please read the following:


Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern sports cards or 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches (63 mm X 89 mm). The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland. Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals.
ATCs are NOT to be sold- ever. They are meant to be traded personally. It is important that you meet other people in person to trade - i.e. it is OK to trade by mail or to participate in editions but the main purpose of this performance is the trading session and the personal meeting.

It's not about money: participants in trading sessions and editions should not be charged any money: the point of the project is the exchange of cards as well as personal experience.

OK- now that the rules have been spelled out this is what I am planning to do. I am setting up a table in the studio filled with an assortment of collage materials. ANYONE who comes into the studio can and will be encouraged to create and ATC.

This ATC was created by me in about 5 minutes. I used an image transfer using Lazerton paper, a wax seal, German foil, stickers, Swarkovski crystals and a collage image of a clock face. 

When I get enough people hooked on ATCs I am planning to have some trading sessions where you can trade cards with other people. I hope it catches on quickly because "time flies" especially when you are having fun!