Mini Masterpieces

Have you ever doodled on a notepad while talking on the phone ... or sitting in a class... or enduring an endless meeting...?






Have you ever looked at a large canvas or paper, gulped, and turned away again?




Have you ever wished for a fun way to meet & socialize with other artists?




If you say yes to any of the above (I'll say yes to all), you might just love a "new" art form: Artist Trading Cards (aka, atc's).



I put quotation marks around "new" because this phenomenon was begun in 1997, in Europe; it has been around 11 years, so it's not really new. However, I have found it is unfamiliar to most North Country artists with whom I speak. So, a brief introduction:


Artist Trading Cards are small artworks (2.5" x 3.5", or 6 cm x 9 cm) in any medium, of any subject, made and swapped with other artists. The only two "rules" are the size, and that no money be exchanged, either for your own creations or for those acquired through swapping.




Above is a photo of several Artist Trading Cards which I and members of my family made. If you look closely, you will note the variety of subjects - from Star Trek to the Blues Brothers, Obama to Jane Austen, and more. Each card reflects an interest, a thought, a whim of the moment.

The media vary as well. Pretty much anything goes. I've been having fun with collage, while my sons have been painting and drawing as well. We've been trying new techniques, such as masking and overlaying, and we've played with new goodies, like special effects gels. Computer printouts have added another level of graphics, as have magazine cut outs.

One fun thing about these cards is that their size is unintimidating. An artist can experiment without investing in large quantities of supplies - and if the experiment doesn't turn out as desired, not much is lost. Also, I often find myself working on four or five tiny pieces at once - this keeps creative juices bubbling.



I've gotten a lot of ideas from a new (to me!) book, Artist Trading Card Workshop: Create - Collect - Swap, by Bernie Berlin (North Light Books). Background information can be found on the Strathmore website. There are also lots of other informational websites, as well as on line trading groups.


BUT - why do on line what can be done in person? I invite any who so desire to come to my art supply shop, Borealis Color, in Saranac Lake, first to make cards and/or at a later time to swap with others ...




What do YOU think? Write a comment!