Artist Trading Cards

I first discovered artist trading cards a couple of years ago when I was getting some art supplies.  They were sitting on the check out counter.  I asked the cashier what they were.  She explained they were like a sports trading card.  You were to create a small piece of art on them and then trade them.  I bought a package and for the longest time I looked at them sitting on my desk, not sure what I should create on them. 

Artist trading cards are 2.5 X 3.5 inches in size.  No larger and no smaller.  The Artist Trading Card (ATC) movement was conceived in 1996 by M. Vanci Stirnemann from Zurich, Switzerland (http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/).  His first exhibit of 1200  ATCs was at the Ink, Art and Text art collective in Zurich, Switzerland.   Since then he has exhibited his ATCs at galleries in Alberta, Germany, and Holland and continues to exhibit in Zurich. 

Once I started creating the cards, I had to find some trading groups.  I was able to find a couple of groups and started trading.  It has been great fun, I have met a lot of very creative, interesting people and have a marvelous collection of ATCs.  My cards have been exhibited a number of times  in the Artist Trading Quarterly, a publication created by Ronna Mogelon:  http://www.atcquarterly.com/issues.html.  In order to display the beautiful cards I have created and collected I have designed ATC books.