ATC

That would be Artist Trading Cards for the uninitiated. I was one of your number until I got an invitation to participate.

Artist trading cards are like hockey cards, or Pokemon cards. Apparently. The idea is to get a bunch of artist types together, everyone makes as many cards as there are supposed to be people, and have an evening of fun. The cards are suppose to be around 2.5 x 3.5 inches. And that is it! Any medium is acceptable.

In our group there were 58 people who registered to participate but there were a few no shows. We had to postpone the event a week because we had a bad storm and some people had other commitments but sent their cards. Which meant that there were a few cards left over. We were invited to trade our extra cards if we wanted to but some people abandoned theirs and so I picked up a few extras of my favorites.

We all were assigned numbers and laid out our cards at our assigned station. We then had about an hour to mingle and look at the other cards that people had made. Then we were told to go back to our cards and pick one then we would all move one station to the right. We then had 45 seconds to chose our card from that persons cards before moving on to the next station. Sometimes 45 seconds was not enough time and sometimes I was able to quickly grab one and then peek over Celine's shoulder (she was in front of me) to see which one I might like.

Some of the cards were beautiful. You could really tell the thought, attention, and time that went into them. Some were nice but not spectacular. And some were, in my mind, uninspiring. You will be able to tell the ones that I really liked because there is more than one.

Celine's teeth

this person did 58 collages on a watercolour

a local print maker David

a variety of photographs

A word here on the photographers. There were a few who printed one photograph. That was it. These were the easiest to chose from. There were a number of them who simply took a half a dozen pictures and printed multiple copies. Also easy. There were others who printed 58 different photos. Much more difficult and much more fun. One fellow printed a large format photo twice and chopped up one as his cards and used the other to lay it out on so that as people took their small piece, they could still see the "big picture".

and a few more

Harriet who love butterflies

some prints, some paintings, some drawings.

a found photo and ten very dirty little secrets that I probably never would have revealed if they were mine.

clay

One of my favorites

Sarah, in her insanity, WOVE all of hers. 58 remember!

lovely delicate drawings

Sue's made from old newspaper layout tape. I have some of this stuff and I love using it.

mine

Mine were silk fusion that I screen printed on, chopped up, sewed the edges, then did a photochemical transfer on the back. The theme of the evening for me was "gecko". I rate mine in the nice but not spectacular category. The ones that I felt were the most successful were the ones from which people had a hard time choosing. Having been there and having seen the possibilities, I have ideas for the future, should something like this ever cross my path again.

And people have been asking ....."OK, so now what will you do with them?" Some may get mounted and put on display, some may end up in my sketch book, and others will probably end up languishing in a drawer somewhere for an indeterminate amount of time before going gently to that great recycling bin in the sky.