Artist Trading Cards Part TWO!!!

More resources for Artist Trading Cards!!

ATC have been around a long time.  The first swap was in May 1997 (as I was graduating high school!) after Swiss artist M. Vanci Stirnemann made and exhibited 1200 cards and ended the show by trading them all as an act of "performance art" (source, Wikepedia).  Artist across the globe still make cards on their own to trade at formal swap meets and in causal meetings in every day life.

In the elementary school art world, art teacher Nic Hahn holds a formal ATC swap every year.  Teachers sign up in August and the international swap happens in her Wisconsin art room in February/March, where she and her volunteers sort and organize the cards and mail them back out to new owners.  She already has the information for the 2020 swap ready on her website, MiniMatisse

Her website is a GREAT resource for finding more ideas, examples, and fun supplies/methods for creating unique ATC.  In the labels on the right side of her blog, you can find the ATC label that connects you to nearly 150 posts.  But I picked a few of the best ones I came across below:

Image via MiniMatisse and Nic Hahn (post linked to photo)
This post has great photos and lots of information on how beneficial making the cards and receiving cards for others can be in the art room.
Via Mini Matisse
In this MiniMatisse post, Nic Hahn shares Pinterest and YouTube sites that explain more of the process and share more ideas for making ATC.  You can also do your own Pinterest search -- there are tons of links and boards people have started!!


The most fun ATC related links (in my opinion) are the ones that have to do with using unexpected materials or making your own paper.  You can find a lot of these on Pinterest or by Googling ATC and clicking on "images" as well.  Many of these ideas carry over into making homemade books, signs, and crafts, and you can test them out on your mini artworks first but then try them on a larger scale.

You can make really awesome textured papers with paint and then draw or collage over top.  Here are links to some "how-to" process videos a few of my favorite Instagram art teachers posted.  They also have still photos of the end results on their Instagram  pages as well:

Chalk dust floating in water (Cassie Stephens via Instagram)

Paper Marbling done with shaving cream and food coloring (Kelsi Quicksall via Instagram)
Painting with bubbles and bubble soap (Cassie Stephens via Instagram)

But whatever ideas and techniques you choose to try, remember, THERE REALLY ARE NO RULES (other than the size of the card).  It's fun to try the exact same subject or idea over and over seeing how you can change it a little each time, or having a theme to a certain set of cards. Lots of kids love to glue unusual objects onto their cards or give them secret flaps that open and close!  Totally fine!  You can also take a bigger artwork and cut it into cards that all fit together like a puzzle, or two that pair up (like two halves of a friendship necklace) to form a more interesting picture. Going outside the box is where the TRUE ATC magic happens!

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