Green Options

My little girls recently took part in an Artist Trading Card swap for children. Not only did they have a blast, but among other equally valuable and equally unteachable lessons they learned that art is accessible, that art is fun, that art is a process (hello, experiential education!), and that they, just like the creators of the works they see on our every museum visit, are themselves artists.

This concept of themselves as artists and their creations as art is great for my girls, sure, but it’s also great for the world: empowering our children to create instead of consume, and teaching them that their creations are valid and satisfying and meaningful can help them place less emphasis on a mass media, consumer culture and more on a person-to-person, handmade, emotionally satisfying lifestyle.

Artist Trading Cards are the big thing now among artists and crafters, professional and casual, and this activity has recently become the easiest and most accessible it’s ever been, especially for kids. Here’s how to get started:

As crafters, whatever our craft may be, I think it’s important that we also feel free to define ourselves as artists. This is true not only because we create works with our hands, with meaning and intent, but also for a couple more reasons in particular:

1. In a mass-market, consumer culture society, in which creation is often thwarted by purchase, and beautiful, meaningful things are often replaced by cheap, disposable, products created far away by workers in often untenable situations, it’s very important for EVERYONE to realize their capability for artistry and for things that are made by one’s own hands. Crafting defined as artwork can help bring significance to crafting and relevance to artwork.
2. Green crafting, especially, is an important craft to highlight as art because of the added significance it takes on in our current environmental context and its status as a sustainable, perhaps even healing practice both for our world and for ourselves.

As a crafter, no matter your craft, Artist Trading Cards are a fun, easy, and accessible way to translate your work into artwork. Here’s how to get started: