I'm very pleased to share with you here the results of our Artist Trading Card project. Although this is a 'traditional media' project, it really speaks to the power of connections that Web 2.0 enabels. Of course, artists were collaborating over long distances well before it was possible to do so with a complex series of 1's and 0's. However, connecting 19 schools in 4 countries for one project is no small feat, and I just shudder at the thought of how many stamps it would take to make those connections. Indeed, my card tradin' parner in crime, Dr. Craig Roland and I have organized and exectued this project entirely online- we haven't even met in 'real life'. Special thanks to Craig for all of the hard work that he did for this project. Its been a great experience working with him. It was also a great chance to collaborate with my wife, Kim, whose kids contributed some great cards from our Shanghai American School. Below you'll find our gallery deck, and the press release that Craig wrote for our project:



In the Summer of 2007, a Call for Participation was posted on ArtJunction.org, Art Education 2.0, and The Carrot Revolution that invited teachers and students to take part in the Olympic ATC Exchange, an international exchange of artist trading cards created to celebrate the "Olympic spirit." With the 2008 Olympics being held this coming summer in Beijing China, the Olympic ATC Exchange provided an opportunity for students to learn more about the Olympics and the ideas behind it, to promote communication and cultural exchange in art between students in different schools and countries, and to showcase students’ skills and creativity through the production and exhibition of artist trading cards.

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) are miniature works of art (measuring 2.5 x 3.5 inches or 64 X 89 mm) that are traded between artists. Students who participated in this project were encouraged to create ATCs based on "The Olympic Spirit," which encompasses 5 traits—Friendship, Honor, Peace, Glory, and Fair Play. Once the cards were completed they were packaged and mailed via snail mail to a central location in the U.S., where they were sorted and exchanged for cards made by students in other schools. Cards were then mailed back out during the last week of March to their new owners. Nineteen (19) schools from around the globe participated in the project including:

BrookHill School in Bullard Texas
Connersville High School in Connersville, Indiana
Enka Schools in Istanbul, Turkey
Fire Prairie Middle School in Independence, Missouri
Friends School In Mullica Hill, New Jersey
Hoover Middle School in Waterloo, Iowa
Hougang Primary School in Singapore, Thailand
Living Sky School Division #202 in North Battleford, S.K., Canada
Montclam Middle School in Stanton,, Michigan
Mount Prospect School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey
New Albany Middle School in New Albany, Ohio
Pioneer Technical Center in Madera, California
RB Hunt Elementary School in St. Augustine, Florida
Shanghai American School in Shanghai, China
Union City Middle & High School in Union City, Pennsylvania
Watkinson School in Hartford, Connecticut
Weaverville Primary School in Weaverville, North Carolina
Westran Middle School in Clifton Hill, Missouri
Willow Springs Middle School in Willow Springs, Missouri

Gallery Deck
To commemorate the exchange and to showcase the variety of ideas and media that have been used for the project, 52 cards from schools participating in the Olympic ATC Exchange were chosen to form a "Gallery Deck" that can be seen a.bove and here.