The Gathering

Bad photos of somewhat interesting Artist Trading Cards
I made last week. More description below.

I was pleased at last week’s Artist Trading Cards (trade ‘em, make ‘em, and trade ‘em, a monthly fourth Thursday meeting) to be seated between Bill, a long-time ATC maker and Mylan, a youngster in about fourth grade, two very able artists in their own rights. It was especially fun to sit beside the young lady who was this meeting making ribbon cards inspired by a card she’d received from another card maker Sue, who was seated across the large table from where we were working. To be surrounded by artists is always a thrill for me, an inspiration to my own artwork and sense of being an artist hard at work! To be surrounded by artists of all ages seems especially fine.

I traded cards at the beginning of our session, new ones I’d made even though I didn’t know what the theme of the opening trade was. That’s always okay with group members. The given topic was cereal images. I made black Christmas trees—sparkly trees on a black ground. After that I gathered some pre-cut grounds pre-printed in light blue and light green, glue, scissors, a knife, a black fine-point pen, and several magazines. And I went to work. I had no idea doing what, but a folded cloth photo caught my eye, a simple flower design in black and white. In another magazine I found some photos of broken sticks with bark still attached. I tore them out and then looked at what I had.

As I worked I became aware of the girl’s frustration. She asked me advice on how to integrate a ribbon she’d just glued on that didn’t easily go with the rest of her design. I gave her a suggestion that she liked and watched as she improvised on it to nice effect. Still she was not satisfied, so I gave her another suggestion and found that we were both searching for the right string to make it. Eventually she found the perfect string to glue in place. I gave her advice what glue to use and how to get it started so it wouldn’t be too much. She showed me her other pieces as they developed and asked me my opinion of a thing or two. I gave her advice on cutting off the edges of the ribbon so they’d cut easily and neatly and watched and complemented her on her work.

Milan’s mother watched and commented. She seemed to be getting a kick out of our interactions. There were a few exchanges. I said I’d worked with children for many years, especially planning art projects. Milan’s younger sister said with surprise, “You worked with children?”

“Yes, I assured her for many years and I had two children and quite a few foster children at home as well.” Children often seem amazed at the long pasts of older adults! Milan’s project was quite successful. Another adult at the end when we present our cards for viewing and swapping said of them, “These are really beautiful.” I agreed.

The evening was wonderful in many respects: working with a child, Beating snacks (especially snacks made by Bill), some white wine, Bill’s cards that are always neat (his combination of images and colors in collage), and the rest of the artists that night.

I also liked what I was doing, the combination of torn images and finishing them off with ink drawings. Sue and Bill and Jerry liked them as well. The girls did too. Mostly, though, just being there talking with and working alongside other artists, seemed right, meaningful, wonderful—a great Christmas week event for me.

Hope your holiday also has been merry and bright.

Denver, 2014