Minnesota Prairie Roots

IF NOT FOR MY APPRECIATION of thrift shops, I would have missed out on some incredible art. Not art in the usual sense of either original art or a print. Rather, I am referencing greeting card art.

On the second floor of Something For All, a thrift and consignment store in small town Lonsdale, I found several boxes of holiday cards featuring the hand-colored woodcut art of Mary Azarian. Since my high school days of hand-carving a linoleum block into a long forgotten design for a two-week shop class, I’ve loved block print art. And I immediately loved Azarian’s “Moon Gazing” winter scene which reminded me not of her home state of Vermont, but of mine, Minnesota.

That I even spotted the brand new cards among all the merchandise crammed into nooks and crannies of the many-roomed, two-story thrift shop was exceptional in itself. There’s a whole lot to see here. I found the cards on a second pass through, and then only because I looked toward the floor. I snapped up the boxed cards for a few dollars. The 12-pack retails for $19.95.

I bought the cards in October and stashed them with other Christmas cards I’d found at bargain prices. I mail nearly 100 cards, meaning I’m always on the search for deals. I also bought three boxes of African American-themed cards on a hot autumn day at a garage sale blocks from my house. Again, I paid just several dollars. This was a great find not only because of the low cost but mostly because I was excited to find culturally-diverse Christmas cards, these illustrated by Memphis artist Mia Saine. The woman selling the cards shared that she buys pallets of close-out merchandise from Target to resell. I don’t understand how that works. But I didn’t care. I was simply happy to find these and other cards.

Granted, sourcing new Christmas cards from a garage sale and from a thrift shop is rather unusual. But for someone who is budget conscious like me and who also appreciates art, this proved a win-win.

Also a win was flipping the thrift shop-found holiday card to the back to learn the name of the artist—Mary Azarian—and the type and name of the art. I also learned the cards were published by Artists to Watch, a Minneapolis-based greeting card company that collaborates with independent fine artists to create beautiful greeting cards. The company uses recycled content paper, soy-based inks, and prints and packages its cards in Minneapolis. I love the feel of the paper, everything about this product, including the plain Kraft colored packaging.

Scrolling through the Artists to Watch website led me to a whole lot of other artists, many from Minnesota: Duluthians Nick Wroblewski, a printmaker of hand-cut woodblocks, and Ricky Allen and Marian Lansky of The Kenspeckle Letterpress; Minneapolis artists Jennifer Davis and Adam Turman; Betsy Bowen of Grand Marais with her woodcut prints; and Jim Brandenburg, a gifted photographer from my native southwestern Minnesota now living in Ely. The list of creatives is lengthy and I expect other Minnesotans are among Artists to Watch artists.

So this is the story of how a stop at a small town thrift shop in southern Minnesota led me to discover an eco-friendly Minnesota greeting card company which supports independent artists by printing their art. I love everything about this concept.

Plus, I loved “Moon Gazing” by 1999 Caldecott Medal winner Mary Azarian (illustrator of Snowflake Bentley) so much that I kept one holiday card for myself to display as art in my home office. (If only the 11×14 Fine Art Print wasn’t out of stock…)

FYI: Artists to Watch publishes boxed and individual greeting cards, not just for Christmas, but also for other celebrations and occasions. Additional products include notecards, vinyl stickers, stationery, journal sets and more.

© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling