Part of the whole Common Folk Collective theme of things is appreciating art that is functional and finding ways to live life in creative ways, appreciating the difference between simply creating art and being a true artist. I’m really salty I missed The Trading Tortoise traveling art project when it came through Milwaukee.

Basically Souther Salazar and Monica Choy wanted to take a road trip across the states but also wanted to interact with the communities they drove through and give something back as they went along. Being the creatives they are, it was only logical (in their upside down, wacky, creative universe) that their trip turn into a traveling art project/trading post. They built a Trading Tortoise.

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“At each stop, they recreate their Trading Tortoise installation and invite people to bring a meaningful object, story or creation and exchange it for something else special that Salazar & Choy have found or traded for along the way. They hope to connect people in different places in America in this way, through a network of traded treasures and a mutual love of giving and receiving in a non-monetary exchange.”

Pretty awesome. They get to pawn off an ultimate american road trip as a benevolent social experiment. And if that isn’t already sicky sweet enough, they’ve also been doing stuff along the way such as painting a mural for Children’s Hospital in Boston. Fucking do-gooders. Don’t they know they should just sit at home and bitch about stuff on a blog?!

Definitely check out their website for the project/trip, The Trading Tortoise. They’ve got tons of photos from their journey and fun stuff and even have a place to track all the trades made. Hooray for another ambitious power couple!