Join In Our Monthly ATC Exchange!
Open to All, 3rd Sunday of each month at 1:00 p.m.
In June 2013 Artistic Artifacts hosted Diane Herbort, a nationally-known quilter/fiber artist and teacher, for her Medley of Metallics class — that’s her gorgeous ATC featuring a metallic Dresden moon pictured at right. After her lecture and demonstrations, the group dove in and began the creation of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and scheduled July 21 as the exchange date. The event was popular enough to decide to hold it monthly, in conjunction with the Judy’s Altered Minds (JAMs) meetings. We hope you’ll join us!
Participating in our ATC exchange is open to anyone interested and takes place at 1:00 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month (please visit our calendar to check for any rescheduling of JAMs due to a conflicting holiday). Anyone not already a member of JAMs is welcome to stay for the meeting, which will begin as soon as trading is concluded. JAMs members represent a wide range of chosen mediums, and all ages and levels of expertise are welcome to join in the fun!
ATCs from Judy Gula’s collection: Clockwise from top left, created by Jean Trammell,
Liz Kettle, Barbara Boatman (middle), Theresa Koenig and Kelsey Grandy.
ATCs are exchanged one for one, i.e., if you bring 10 cards to exchange, you will receive 10 in return. You can create your ATC according to whatever concept (note: particular themes may be announced during the exchange for the following month) or style you wish, using whatever medium you wish. There are only a few rules to ATCs (and approximately a kajillion web resources to learn more and be inspired by):
- Each card must be 2½" x 3½" (64 mm × 89 mm). Corners can be rounded or trimmed if desired, and your art can be portrait or landscape in orientation.
- Cards can be in any handmade medium, including collage, mixed-media, fiber, felt or cloth, painting, drawing, ink, Zentangles, etc.
- The cards you bring for exchange can be all the same (an edition or series) or all different... or any combination of the two.
At a minimum, include your name on the reverse. The following information is suggested for inclusion:
- Contact information: email address, website, blog address
- Date of creation of the card, or of the exchange
- Edition number, within a limited edition or series (i.e., 1 of 20, 2 of 20, 3 of 20...). Cards that are unique can be described as ‘OOAK’' (one of a kind) or numbered 1/1, if you’d like.
- Your signature
Note: there are many rubber stamps created expressly for the reverse sides of ATCs. You can also create a custom computer printed label, or write info in by hand — whatever you prefer.
“M. Vänçi Stirnemann, the artist who came up with the original concept of Artist Trading Cards, felt that the trade was everything. Making contact, shaking hands, meeting another artist, and then looking through their work and choosing something that is special to you and then, trading. That is the whole purpose behind Trading Cards for Vänçi and lots of other people like him, making contact, making the trade.... There is something really special about trading something that you made with your own hands, with someone else who has done the same.” [Quoted from The How-to's Of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards)]
ATC trading falls into the category of “the more, the merrier,” so please pass the word along to any of your friends or to other art groups you might belong to, and join in the fun!
