Sunday, February 14, 2010

An ATC Exchange

In the fall of 2009, the Richmond Art Gallery (RAG) sponsored an exchange of Art Trading Cards.  I decided I would like to enhance my collection by taking part in this exchange.  The guidelines were that each participant sent in 9 trading cards in a "trading card" page with a self-addressed stamped envelope for returning the cards received in exchange.  There was no theme, no regulations, and all forms of art were welcomed.  This meant the ATC's would be photography, painting, paper art, mixed media, and mine...textile art.  Any medium was ok. 

Here is a sampling of the ones I sent in.  The orange ones were made with the trimmings from a dye experiment where I quilted the sandwich of fabric first and then lay it in a tray and poured dye over it.  I have a quilt on the design wall from this technique, but it's not finished yet.  I couldn't bear to throw out the pieces....they were so bright and colorful! 

And one day in the mail, an envelope arrived, printed with my own handwriting, and it contained these!  They are a combination of paper art, mixed media, and two fabric ones.  The one of the box jellyfish reminds me of the movie "Seven" with Will Smith.  A thought provoking movie I watched one evening by myself.  I can't say I loved it but I did enjoy it! 

I especially like the one of the leaf in the bottom left.  I "think" the leaf is paper but am not positive about that.  The bird one is velvet on paper, and there's one that is First Nations buttonwork.  They are all beautiful and have added nicely my collection.  The best part was receiving these in the mail after I'd forgotten all about the exchange!