Margo Yacheshyn

In my second year of art school, my drawing instructor Don Mabie (aka Chuck Steak) introduced our class to Artist Trading Cards (ATC)—which he had discovered earlier that year while in Zurich. He assigned us nine cards for the following week’s first-ever Calgary trading session. I made 200. I immediately got swept away by the freedom of making tiny pieces of art, then trading, collecting and sorting these little gems. And so when I moved to Kelowna after graduating from ACAD, I had to find a way to keep up the momentum.

I joined the Alternator Gallery and spent the next few years with artist Shauna Oddleifson trying to recreate the thriving Calgary ATC scene in the Okanagan. Although it never took off here like it did in Calgary, it was a great experience. I curated two exhibitions from my collection and I embraced my inner nerd as I lived and breathed Artist Trading Cards for nearly 10 years. Best of all was the community we developed that brought together artists and other creative-types of various disciplines. We met in studios, galleries, coffee shops and even pubs and martini bars to make and trade cards over libations and conversation, always trying to lure more people into the creative and fascinating world of ATC.

Alas, I don't make many cards these days except with my daughter.