Nic Hahn is an art teacher in Minnesota that I have collaborated with in the past. Over the summer she announced she was hosting an artist trading card swap- and I signed up! An Artist Trading Card Swap is when student artist trading cards are exchanged with other student artist trading cards. Over 250 school signed up for the swap nation wide as well as schools from other countries! This opportunity for students to connect through artwork with other students acoss the nation was something we just could not pass up!
Though I had big plans for the swap, time snuck up on me. We had been creating artwork for an October exhibit that opened on the 28th. After that we were creating community service artwork that had deadlines or hinged on due dates of other projects that end on this very day. So when it came down to the wire, I did not have have time to carve out for how I was going to teach the students techniques and methods for creating these little masterpieces. I STILL wanted to have the kids participate and had created four ATC a while back as exemples to show them the many different techniques that can be used making these little pieces of artwork. Here are my examples:
So, I decided to place faith in the students and let them create on their own from home. Using about 10 minutes of classtime I announced what Artist Trading cards are, showed them my examples, told students they had a week to create their masterpiece at home and passed out the card and planner. Look was the kiddos brought back!
I ended up sending 90 high quality cards to the dwap and will receive 90 back to trade with the participating students in January. Once these students receive these cards I believe the anticipation and excitement will spread like wildfire.
I am hoping that we can take part of another ATC Trade later on this year so that students have another opportunity to be involved in connected with others through artwork!
