Earlier this week we shared a post about our staff ATC swap. We will soon be featuring an ATC display on our walls in store, so I thought you might like to know a little bit more about them!
ATC stands for Artist Trading Card, and they are mini works of art that you trade and swap with other artists, much like children trade baseball/basketball/football cards.
ATC's are 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches (6cms x 9cms) and can be made from any type of materials you wish! They can be made in either vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape) orientation. The sky is the limit for every other aspect of the art!
ATC's have no geographical boundaries - they can be swapped with anyone all over the world!
There is only one main rule for ATC's and that is that they should never be sold - either your own, or ones that you have acquired in a swap.
Miniature works of art created on cards have been around for centuries, however the modern-day concept of ATC's was conceptualised by artist M. Vanci Stirnemann in 1996. In May 1997, Stirnemann held a gallery showing of 1200 cards at an art and text bookstore in Zurich. Those that attended the show were told that if they wanted one of the cards on display then they had to bring in one of their own to swap - and so the artist trading card movement was born. The idea quickly spread across Canada and the USA, and eventually the world! These days online swaps are very popular, and there are an infinite number of online swaps you can take part in.
There is only one main rule for ATC's and that is that they should never be sold - either your own, or ones that you have acquired in a swap.
Some artists get around this rule by creating ACEO's - which are essentially ATC's that artists have specifically created for sale. ACEO stand for "Art Cards, Editions, and Originals". However this practice is often frowned upon by ATC traders.
History:
Miniature works of art created on cards have been around for centuries, however the modern-day concept of ATC's was conceptualised by artist M. Vanci Stirnemann in 1996. In May 1997, Stirnemann held a gallery showing of 1200 cards at an art and text bookstore in Zurich. Those that attended the show were told that if they wanted one of the cards on display then they had to bring in one of their own to swap - and so the artist trading card movement was born. The idea quickly spread across Canada and the USA, and eventually the world! These days online swaps are very popular, and there are an infinite number of online swaps you can take part in.
Display:
ATC's can be displayed individually on a min easel like this one that my ATC is on:
However it is more common for them to be displayed in 9 pocket sleeves in a folder, like these ones:
I recently taught a class that featured 5 ATC's in their own display box:
Pretty cool, huh?!
We are thinking about having a regular ATC swap, or ATC club here at Pages2Scrap - if you are interested, please let us know by leaving a comment, popping us an email, or telling us next time you're in store.
~Sarah~
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Absolutely fabulous.
ReplyDeleteI would love to be a part of your ATC Swap. My email address is: lizwilliamson04@gmail.com
oontact me when a swap begins.
Regards,
Liz