Artist Trading Cards Page 1         Page 2, Page 3,

 

Artist Trading Cards by Sandra Luck

ATCs are art miniatures which pass hand to hand. Some sources have credited M. Vänçi Stirnemann, who began trading sessions in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1997, as popularizing ATCs in the modern era, ATC's can be traced back to portrait miniatures and to a kind of business card popular with artists during the Impressionistic era.
Artists have produced miniatures for trade or self-promotion in many eras and places.Historically there were few standard rules or guidelines to artist trading cards, and many variances in sizes can be seen in older cards. The standardization in size of baseball cards is credited with creating the standardization in size for artist trading cards. Today, the only rule for ATCs is their 2.5 by 3.5 inch size which is the same as baseball cards and other collectible card games. There are, however, certain conventions usually observed by those who make and trade these cards, such as the expectation that they be traded, not sold, and that they be created as unique works or small limited editions of prints. Most people expect the prints of ATCs to be embellished in some way. Artists generally sign and date the back, and may also include a title and contact information. The face-to-face trading session is considered an integral part of the concept, although many people find each other via the internet and trade by mail.
Artist Trading Cards are typically made on a base of card stock. However, ATCs have been created on metal, stiffened fabric, plastic, clay, glass, balsa wood, leather, embroidery canvas, acetate, heavy watercolor paper, and many other materials. The art on the cards can be done in any media: textile arts, pencil/graphite, watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage, scratch board, mixed media, assemblage, digital art, calligraphy, beadwork, rubber stamps, carved soft block stamps, pen and ink, colored pencil, airbrush, pastels, and many others - anything artists use.

Displaying your collection is often done by saving them in the 9 pocket protector pages used by Baseball card collectors and putting these pages in notebooks.

Art card, Editions and Originals
An offshoot of Artist Trading Cards are the "art card, editions and originals" ACEOs originated when some artists began to create cards to sell, in addition to trading among themselves. The selling of these cards is a sore point with some ATC enthusiasts; but, of course, the provision that cards should not be sold is not an enforceable one. Trading cards in other areas such as sports are frequently sold as well as being traded.