Wow! We had another fantastic year of sharing art in the 8th Annual Liberate Your Art postcard swap. Here are this year’s stats:
134 artists
10 countries
31 US states
It was a crazy year for me personally, since the swap coincided with the FIRST Robotics Competition season, and we are heavily involved with my son’s team. We completed the season at Pacific Northwest District Championships in Portland, OR last weekend, and we are completing the postcard swap this weekend. Whatever will I do with my free time??
But no matter what is going on with me, this postcard swap is all about YOU. The swap is really made great by the active participation of all of the artists, and you were a wonderfully active bunch in the Facebook Event Group this year! Thank you for continuing the fun of getting happy mail by reaching out to the artists who created your postcards and sharing the postcards you received online.
As always, a theme emerges from each year which inspires the special edition art I create at the end of the swap. This year’s message, Art brings Light to the World, was inspired by a comment one of my swap helpers made on swap day. As we were sticking on labels and stamps, Kate said, “Wow, there is so much positive energy in this mail!” Such a great observation! Collectively, the art and personal messages of inspiration and encouragement you all liberate into the world is positive and powerful. Your art is a light in a world which is often characterized as fraught with conflict and division. Keep liberating!
Thank you to everyone who participated this year. Enjoy the video of the art from ~70 participants who send me images. It’s always amazing to see the range of creativity in this group of artists!
Now, it’s time to HOP! I have a special bonus for the blog hop participants in the form of a giveaway drawing! At the end of the final celebration, by random drawing from all blog hop links, I will be giving away:
- One 6×9″ fine art print of this year’s Final Celebration image “Art brings Light to the World” shown above. Having this image in your studio will remind you to keep liberating that art to make the world a better place.
- One copy of the second edition of my book, Art with an iPhone: A Photographer’s Guide to Creating Altered Realities, which was published at the end of 2017. Sharing my process is another piece of the art I liberate in the world!
- Eight packets of postcards from other participants. You all were a generous bunch, and even after sharing them with the helpers on swap day, I have extra postcards to share with the rest of you!
If you would like your own 6×9″ signed fine art print of this year’s image “Art brings Light to the World,” it is only available for purchase during the time of the final celebration. To order, click here if you are within the US and here if you are outside of the US. Postage is included in the purchase price. Thank you! Your orders help me defray the extra expenses I incur on behalf of the swap. (And don’t worry, if you purchase the print and then win the giveaway, I’ll refund your money.)
All right, are you ready? Let’s celebrate! Share your experiences with this year’s swap. You can link in from a blog, Flickr, Facebook, even Instagram! Make sure your image is public, and you are good to go.
Thank you for hosting this wonderful swap Kat….Now we are already celebrating with the annual blog hop 🙂 Where did the time go, lol..Wishing you another year of beautiful creations!!
Yay! So much fun again this year. I think next year I will use the same image on all postcards, so the other artists will know when they connect by getting my image. Thanks so much! – LL
Each year am enjoying LYA! Thanks again Kat. Let’s Blog Hop… Long live Art and Creativity.
Thank you Kat for another great year. It went so fast. We dont receive cards fast in Cnada though so I’m still waiting for yours and a couple more. Oh the anticipation! See you next year.
Thanks for hosting this Kat 🙂 I love seeing ‘old’ and ‘new’ artists join every year
Thank you for this card swap.
It’s amazing to see all the art works of other from all over the world.
See you all next year!
Bye
Ron
Thanks for hosting the swap, Kat! This is always so much fun, and it’s great to make so many new artist friends. I do appreciate you doing it.
Thank you so much for hosting the LYA swap and for all the work you and your helpers do. I do enjoy getting the cards and seeing all the wonderful art on the FB page, the video and the blog hop. This is such a great way to ‘meet’ artists from all over. This is only my second year participating and I have been disappointed that some of my cards aren’t acknowledged by the receiver. Also, each year I have received a card and have not been able to read an email address or other means of thanking the giver. I can only hope that these people will post on the FB page or respond to my post of their card. I know you can’t regulate these things and that your instructions are clear on all these points but I just felt the need to comment. Thanks again!
Once again, another fabulous postcard swap!! I’ve been blown away be all the fantastic art! Thank you and your helpers for making this swap a success!! Looking forward to next year!
Kat, although I haven’t participated in years, after visiting a few of the artists blogs and watching your video, I think I’ll join in again next year. You are fabulous for all the work you do to keep this swap moving forward.