Saxony students turn art into trading cards

A range of influences and styles were on display Tuesday at Saxony Lutheran High School as about 20 artists gathered for a trading event.

Art teacher and Art Club adviser Christy Moore said she had participated in events such as this one before and was excited to bring it to the students at Saxony.

The Art Club held workshops last week, Moore said, and students could make their artwork on pieces of heavy cardstock cut to trading-card size — about 2 inches by 3 inches. Each participant made nine cards, sleeved in special pages taped to the wall.

The trading began with a countdown at 4 p.m. Tuesday, and each person who’d brought cards ran for their favorites and moved them into their own plastic sheet.

Moore said the event added to Saxony’s celebration of National Lutheran Schools Week. Students from Saxony were invited to participate regardless of whether they were in the Art Club, Moore said, and some Cape Girardeau artists contributed.

“We have pieces from Helen Towner and Craig Thomas,” Moore said, as well as teachers Laura Hayden and Kelly Carstens.

“Brenda Seyer did some of her batiks,” Moore

added.

Abby Emmons, Art Club president and a senior at the school, said she was a founding member of the club three years ago.

“I liked art but didn’t take art classes,” she said, so the club was a good solution for her.

Emmons said she drew inspiration from nature, bringing together bright colors and shapes to create sunsets and flowers.

Londyn Lorenz, Art Club treasurer and a junior, said she’s in drama and choir, so she doesn’t have room in her schedule for art classes.

“I’ve always loved art,” she said, adding her inspiration often comes from the internet and what she’s seen on trips.

“This summer we went to Sea World and Los Angeles,” she said, which is why there were so many references to desert scenes and whales.

“A lot of the cards I see, I just want them,” she said.

Art Club secretary Mariah Mitchell said several of her pieces were accidental.

“I thought about what was important to me, like my cat, or ramen noodles,” she said, pointing to the card with a pair of cat eyes floating on a black field, the card with a ramen noodle collage.

For her other cards, she used color schemes she liked, and a technique using shaving cream and food coloring to create a kind of marbled pattern.

“It came out as kind of a tide-pool look,” she said.

“We have fun,” Mitchell said.

Art Club member Deanna Rubach drew much of her inspiration from Disney films, she said.

“I’m a pretty big fan of Disney. I love all the movies I’ve seen,” she said.

She said she tried to make each card meaningful regardless of whether a viewer was familiar with the movie from which it’s based, pairing a character from the movie with a memorable quote.

She also had a sketch of the Eiffel Tower in the set she created, which, she said, “looked better in my head.”

Still, Rubach said, “Art Club is really fun.”

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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