Martha

Went to an ATC swap last night. For the unaccustomed, ATCs are artist trading cards...2.5" X 3" inch miniature pieces of art created originally as an artistic calling card. There are communities all over the world that create and trade these pieces, some online and some in person. Portland has a few different in person swaps and I went to one of them last night at Powell's.

The crowd (and consequently the cards) at these gatherings vary. Last night I really bonded with the folks and the art (funny how those two things generally go together). You simply pass your notebook to someone at the table ask if they would like to trade and if they are willing (which they nearly always are) you take a card from their collection as they take one from yours. Last night I traded with everyone and in fact swapped three with one woman and two with another.

It's a great feeling handing someone a book full of little treasures you toiled over and hearing their reactions. When you create art alone at home you don't get that kind of feedback. So the appeal of the swaps is the reinforcement that you in fact are not wasting your time cutting and pasting. The other draw is that you get to leave with a stack of other people's cards (and hopefully ones that you love).

The cards I traded for last night are some of my favorite yet. There were several cat ones which I snatched up as fast as possible, one featuring a pirate cat with a particularly bad attitude and dirty mouth. But the card that rocked me the most was one titled "Innovator?" and features a collage of a dress form with a clock (for those close to me you probably know I have a "thing" for old clocks), an image of Martha Stewart and the words "You discover treasure where others see nothing unusual." Sigh. So perfect for me. As I told the artist who made it, "This card chose me." She had made it nearly a year ago (July 2006) and it had been lingering in her notebook for someone to choose it, apparently waiting for me, The Alt Martha.