What is an ATC?
ATC's or Artist Trading Cards are
original miniature works of art the size of sports trading cards.
They are created by artists who work in all sorts of different
mediums like rubber stampers, fabric artists, painters,
calligraphers, collage artists, and photographers just to name a
few. You can use chalks, inks, pencils, fibers, fabric, photographs,
beads and embellishments to create your own little miniature works
of art. Any types of techniques are allowed, and anyone can create
them.
Once created, ATC’s are signed, dated
and titled on the back. They are then traded with other ATC artists.
The concept of ATC is the person-to-person trade, as well as trading
by mail. The most fun is to trade person-to-person though. The basic
idea is the card-for-card trade. Money is not intended to be
exchanged for ATC’s.
ATC’s are a relatively new art form
which formally began in 1996. The concept was created by Swiss
artist M. Vanci Stirnemann.
The
Rules of ATC’s:
-
Trading - An ATC
mustn't be sold, only exchanged. The whole essence of these tiny
works of art is about artists meeting and exchanging their
works, thus meeting many artists and being exposed to many
personal styles.
-
Size - ATC's must
be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" (64 x 89mm). This is the standard size for
sports trading cards (such as baseball and football trading
cards). You can create your ATC's over top of regular playing
cards, baseball cards, other collector cards, or use your own
cardstock. Your cards can be 2 or 3 dimensional. Your design
should be flat enough to fit into a standard trading-card
sleeve. The sleeves are useful in protecting the cards. Also,
many traders collect their cards in the heavy plastic card
sheets that fit in 3 ring binders.
-
Contact Information
- Typically ATC's are traded so it is important to sign your
ATC's on the back, date it and include any other contact
information you want to give like an email address or snail mail
address. If your ATC is part of a limited edition (one of a set
of identical ATC’s), you should number them (1/10, 2/10, etc.).
Unique ATC’s are called originals. Sets of ATC’s that are based
on one theme but are different are called series.
What
is the difference between an ATC and an ACEO?
While an ATC is an Artist Trading
Card, an ACEO (Art Card, Editions and Originals) is intended to be
sold rather than traded. Other than the intended use, they are the
same size, contain the same information, and are also an form
designed by the imagination of the artist with whatever mediums he
or she chooses.
ATC's are changing all the time and many
artists have used unusual materials to create their ATC's like
polymer clay, acrylic, wood, metal, and fabric. ATC's are for
everyone!
