ATCs: ___-ing up a storm

"Sewing up a Storm" by Cathy Dillon

As AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga is a mere week away, area quilters, quilt shops and quilt guilds are frantically stitching labels and sleeves on the backs of quilts... cutting, folding and kitting quilting lovelies to showcase in their booths at the vendor mall... and double-checking rosters and disseminating information to volunteers who will be assisting at this upcoming city-wide quilting extravaganza.

I am among this vast group of [ahem… slightly crazy and frazzled] people.

The Artist Trading Card (ATC) artists in the FiberAntics ATC swap are also voraciously consuming their time with sewing, quilting, cooking and various indoor and outdoor activities as the summer begins to wane. These ATCs depict this month's theme, "___-ing up a Storm." 

Preparing for AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga
"Stitching up a Storm" by Veronica Hofman-Ortega

"Stitching up a flower garden [during] a [summer] storm."
by Linda Smith

"Gardening up a Storm!"
by Marilyn League

"Mowing... up a storm!"
by Karen Downer

"Creating Up A Storm"
by Lisa Howard

With no required Book Club books to plow through, this ATC artist says she's free to read the pile of books she really wants to read.

"(summer) Reading… up a storm"
by Bonnie Stevens

"I'm Cooking up a Storm"
by Liz Armstrong

This ATC artist says you'll find her wearing an apron canning and baking. I thinks she's got a great idea to accompany this task with a tasty libation.

"Wearing and apron canning and baking up a storm."
by Sharon Griffith

"Dancing up a Storm"
by Carlene Jacobsen

My personal invitation to you:
Come visit Chattanooga next week for QuiltWeek, September 10-13! Dance, run and skip on over to see us and be in awe of what all the talented quilters and fabric artists will have on display all over the city as well as at the American Quilters Society (AQS) Show at the Chattanooga Convention Center [1150 Carter St., Chattanooga]. There are activities happening early in the week before the AQS quilt show officially opens, as well as exhibits and performances the following weeks and months through the end of the year.

ATCs: The Big Chill

Who is she? What is she thinking? 
   Has she been forgotten or is she patiently waiting for someone?

The Big Chill by Lisa in Ashburn, Virginia.

The November ATC swap brought these enchanting, intriguing, playful and magical images in response to the theme, The Big Chill. Take a look...

The Big Chill by Carlene in Harrison, Tennessee

As I complete another year of hosting my ATC swaps, I would like to send a heartfelt Thank You to all the artist traders, both current and past, who have shared their creativity, talent and a bit of themselves with me and the other ATC artists through their art. This month, I have credited the artists in the photo captions and included their geographic location.

The Big Chill by Arlene in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

Next year will be Year 5 of my ATC swaps. Believe it or not, there have been a few ATC artists that have been with me since the beginning. Wow!

The Big Chill by Marilyn in Memphis, Tennessee.

To everyone who views my FiberAntics ATC posts, I hope you have enjoyed and been inspired by the themes and the artwork. Leave a comment and let the artists know you enjoy seeing their work. I know I treasure my 4-year collection of ATCs that I have received through the trades.

The Big Chill by Bonnie in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

You can view ATCs from previous swaps by typing "ATC" in the Search field under Search this Blog. The themes for 2013 are posted here. Details, guidelines and a little history about Artist Trading Cards can be found here. If you'd like to join us for an upcoming swap, send me an e-mail.

The Big Chill by Karen in Ooltewah, Tennessee.

The size of these cards are 2.5" x 3.5" and you might be surprised all you can do on artwork this size. The medium and materials are up to you. All that is asked is that you do your best and follow the Golden Rule: give what you would like to receive.

The Big Chill by Veronica in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

So, until next year, I hope you have enjoyed the show!

ATCs: Aphorisms

"The weeds will win in the end." —Walt Whitman

As far back as the days of Hippocrates [c. 460 - 370 BC] great thinkers, philosophers and poets alike have imparted practical and insightful views of life that stop us in our thoughts, and often bring a smile to our faces. "Aphorisms," concise and memorable statements containing a subjective truth, was the theme of the August FiberAntics ATC swap. 

As a typographer and long time typeface aficionado, I love these kinds of ATC themes because words and letters—mechanically or calligraphically produced—can be a focal point in the artwork. It gives me an opportunity to peruse various typefaces, experiment with typographic options, and choose something appropriate for the text or message. (Ohhh, I did my thesis in typography and the affects of typefaces on messages... many moons ago... but I digress...)

Here are the ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) for this month. I hope you enjoy the creatively and typographically illustrated bits of pithy wisdom from these ATC artists.

"The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of." —Blaise Pascal

"So go for the jump and chase all your dreams." —Mark van Essen

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep
because reality is finally better than your dreams." —Dr. Seuss

"When in Memphis, do as the Memphians do... eat BBQ." 

"I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money." —Pablo Picasso

"Thought forms in the soul the same way clouds form in the air." Joseph Joubert
"Our greatest misfortunes come to us from ourselves." —Jean-Jaques Rousseau

"The only real currency we have is time."

"Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly." —Aristotle

"Time lost is never found again."

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." —Henry David Thoreau
"The only way to be a friend is to be one." —Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells." —Dr. Seuss

ATCs: In the style of a famous artist

In the style of Amadeo Modigliani.

The ATC (Artist Trading Card) Artists in my FiberAntics monthly ATC swap have outdone themselves this month! I know, I know... I say that every month, but take a look at these. If imitation is a form of flattery, then the famous artists to whom we give a nod should be shamelessly impressed.

The July ATC theme was "In the style of _____ (pick a famous artist)." The famous artists that were recognized are:

Claude Monet (1840 - 1926)
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 - 1959)
Amadeo Modigliani (1884 - 1920)
Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954)
Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987)
Bruce Gray (1956 - )

I'm sure you'll have no trouble identifying their styles in these artist trading cards.

In the style of Bruce Gray.

"Self portrait with Cat."
In the style of Frida Kahlo.

In the style of Monet.

In the style of Andy Warhol.

"Frank's Glass."
In the style of Frank Lloyd Wright

More watercolor paintings in the style of Amadeo Modigliani. Remember that the size of an Artist Trading Card is 2.5" x 3.5". With that in mind, are you impressed?

In the style of Amadeo Modigliani.

In the style of Amadeo Modigliani.

In the style of Amadeo Modigliani.

In the style of Amadeo Modigliani.

In the style of Amadeo Modigliani.

ATCs: Legs

They take you to the best places, a house could fall on them, and she knows how to use them... "Legs." It was the theme for the February ATC swap. So, a la ZZ Top, this month's Artist Trading Card Artists know how to use: rubber stamps, fabric, recycled boxes, junk mailers, images, decorative papers, colored pencils, paints, digital collage to create their cards and embellish them with ribbons, feathers, buttons and other ephemera. Here they are... do wah, do wah...

Left: Legs
Right: Legs... take you to the best places.

Left: Witch Legs
Right: ... and knows how to use them.

Left: Go for it, girls! A history of the nylon stocking.
Right: Oh... the wind

 I couldn't resist showing the other long-legged cuties in this ATC series...

... and here is a hand-crafted card (to me) from ATC artist, Lisa.

Thanks, Lisa!

ATCs: Who's who in the Zoo?

You just gotta smile at these!

The January theme for the FiberAntics ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap was "Who's who in the Zoo?" and viewing each of the cards was one smile after another.

They didn't come marching in two-by-two as in Noah's floating zoo, but the The Unicorn Song, sung by the Irish Rovers, definitely came to mind. I remember this song from a TV program I watched growing up, "Ray Rayner and His Friends," that aired on WGN in Chicago. The host, one of the pioneers in children's TV programming, Ray Rayner (who also played Oliver O. Oliver on Bozo's Circus), would feature an animal on the program in a segment called "Ark in the Park." Introducing this segment was The Unicorn Song.

So, here are the ATCs from "Who's who in the Zoo."

Left: "King of the Beasts"
Right: "I am the tallest" 

Left: "Jaguar"
Right: "The Animals are behind the Fence"

Above: "Who's who in the zoo?"

Above: The Zebra

These cards also bring back memories of going to the zoo as a youngster. I was privileged to have two zoos available to me in Chicago—Lincoln Park Zoo and Brookfield Zoo. I don't recall if either of them had a unicorn. Unicorns are magical, you know, ...so maybe they did??