ATC Cards

ATC's  - Artist Trading Cards - Day 4

Bear Paw Studio - Kid's Art Camp

Art Safari - Sept. 24 - 27, 2012

Our last day of camp was busy and fun, with our challenge being to use what we had learned about colors and drawing to make some great artist trading cards for ourselves and to trade with our friends.  Artist trading cards are always 2.5"x3.5" (the same size as playing cards or baseball cards).  There are very few rules to follow in making these cards, except that they must be the maker's original art,   signed and dated on the back, and should only be traded, not sold.  Artists all over the world trade these cards with their artist friends or with other artists via the internet, clubs, and at special ATC events.  

Here are the samples we had to get us going.  You can tell that we had been studying African wildlife and that we used a variety of materials to make the cards.  Just about any medium or subject will work on ATC cards.  The more creative, the better!

We had six bins full of different materials to use, one per student.  After working on a card for about 10 minutes, we rotated the bins so that each person eventually got to use all the bins.  We tried to make between 6 and 9 cards each during this time.

When we started to work, it got pretty quiet as everyone focused intently on making their cards look their best.  

Emma uses markers to color a brown camel.

Gretchen uses oil pastels to make a happy hippo in the water.

And there it is, pretty in pink.

Hailey uses watercolor pencils to draw and paint her snazzy zebra.

Melody gets her colored pencils busy taming Mr. Lion.

For this card, Melody tries the watercolor paints.

Cassidy makes this card into a beautiful collage using fancy papers.

Unfortunately,  the photographer missed getting a photo of Danielle making her beautiful cards, and, worse yet, didn't get any photos of the fun everyone had trading the cards!  It was so exciting that the photographer got a little distracted, I think.  She'll have to do better next time, or I'll have to let her go.

Now, back to the story!  After about an hour, all students had completed their 6 or 7 cards, signed and dated them, and were ready to start the trading.  Each chose three of their cards to trade and saved the others in a plastic card holder.  The cards to be traded were then pinned up on the wall for everybody to see.  Each person then went to the wall in turns to choose another artist's card in exchange for their own.   Everyone got three new cards to add to their collection and take home. 

Now the artists know all about ATC's and can continue creating new cards to share and trade with friends, family, or other ATC artists around the world, if they choose.

See you on the next art trip!

Safari Guide, Betsy Bear

Tribal Vibes

Tribal Vibes  - Day 3

Bear Paw Studio - Kid's Art Camp

Art Safari - Sept. 24 - 27, 2012

Cassie's Tribal Collage

We have used our artistic talents to create giraffes, elephants, leopards, monkeys, toucans, and other exotic wildlife so far on our Art Safari, and today we had a little fun creating tribal warriors and colorfully dressed women.  First, we looked at photos and fabric panels depicting African traditional clothing, ceremonial costumes, and textile patterns, noticing the colorful patterns and unique styles.  Then we used paper collage to create our own stylized African tribal people based on two Asanti wall hangings we had in the studio.

The first step involved drawing and/or tracing stencils to make our people and their clothes.  We used black construction paper for the people, and previously painted watercolor paper for the clothes.

Cassie traces around the warrior's robe.

The women's hand, feet, and head were drawn freehand and cut out, then glued to the back of her dress, which was traced and cut around a pattern.

After the woman was glued to a background of mat board, bundles and baskets were cut freehand and added to her head.  Then patterns and details was added with markers to the clothing and bundles.

Hailey thinks about adding patterns.

And here are the wonderful patterns Hailey added.

After making the woman, we had just enough time remaining to make the warrior, and did it in much the same way.

Danielle  has her warrior's body ready to glue.

Melody glues her warrior.

We pin them up on our gallery wall for our show.

The beautiful women are like wallflowers, waiting for the warriors to come along.

Finally, the warriors are finished and join the women.  Everyone is beautiful.

We loved how the women could balance so many baskets on their heads, and enjoyed the variety of intricate patterns and bright colors in the clothes.     

Here's a closeup of each couple and the proud artist:

Gretchen, age 8

Emma, age 7

Danielle, age 9

Hailey,  age 9

Melody, age 10

Cassidy, age 10

It was a busy and exciting day, with so much good work by the artists.  We'll be back soon for our final day of the Art Safari!  See you then.

Betsy Bear, Safari Guide