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Artist Trading
Cards
Art
for Art's Sake
In 1996-97 a new art
culture sprang up which rejected the tradition of critiquing and pricing art.
Swiss artist Vanci Stirnemann is hailed as the father of the movement that
started when, inspired by sports trading cards, he created and showcased over
a thousand Artist Trading Cards in a gallery in Zurich, Switzerland. He
refused to sell the cards but offered to swap with anyone who brought in a
card. A movement was born which eventually circled the globe.
This non-competitive art form has only two rules:
1. The cards should be 2.5” x 3.5” (64mm x 89mm)
2. The cards must not be sold; they must be traded with other artists.
It is recommended that the back be signed and dated and if the card is part of
an edition that they be numbered. Artist Trading Cards are made of all sorts
of materials and many different techniques are used. Because this is not a
competitive culture, cards are traded one for one regardless of materials used
or artistic style. There is no judgment involved. You either like the card
offered and want to trade or you do not. There are ATC swap meets in many
major cities around the world, and a number of cards are exchanged sight
unseen in theme swaps on sites such as Nervousness.org.
For this article, we offered emu feathers to a number of artists that frequent
Nervousness.org and asked that they create two Artist Trading Cards using the
feathers as an embellishment. Their interpretations are below. Please
post your comments on this article in our
guest book.
"I rarely make ATC's, but I
joined this project because I enjoy working with textures. The feathers
are on handmade paper created from old letterhead and sewing patterns. If
you look at the closer view of the card on the left, you can see that it
has the imprint of emu feathers in the paper." ~Sarah~
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Heather Dawkins
aka Pagonfrog or earthspell
Scotland
"I discovered ATC's in 2001, and
really liked the small format to work on. I like ATC's purely because I
can use my art ideas that wouldn't work on any thing else. I really
enjoyed working on these emu feather ATC's as it has attracted me back
into the ATC world after a long time away from it." ~Heather~
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Penny Linders
aka Penster
Canada
"I rediscovered the wonderful world of
mail art 3 years ago and have learned that in this ever-changing world,
the concept of mail art has changed too. One of the newest concepts
in mail art is Artist Trading Cards (ATC). What attracted me to
these was their size - 3-1/2" x 2-1/2". A small canvas which is less
intimidating to me than a large one. Creating ATCs is a great way to
use up those little bits of ephemera that are just too small to use
anywhere else. I don't need a big space to express what I want to convey,
and ATCs are the perfect medium for this. ATCs are a new, fun, easy,
cheap way for mail artists to share their art with others." ~Penny Linders~
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D.D. Home
aka Dunglas
USA
"I discovered ATCs about 9 months ago. I was in a
creative rut, and they were just what I needed. The
small scale is unintimidating, and the trading is fun
and inspiring." ~Dunglas~
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Nicole K
aka Stargal1998
USA
"It was really interesting to work with Emu Feathers,
they have a great texture and feel so soft. The worst
part was trying to channel my ideas into something
workable. So many ideas made it to the art table from
the drawing board, and so many didn't seem to cut it.
A card sent by a fellow invitee of this LMAO ended up
inspiring me to create the Emu King (he is an Emu by
day and turns into a man by night); A line from King
Kong ("And in the end it was beauty tamed the Beast")
inspired me to create the other one. I was really
happy and very proud to have been a part of this LMAO,
I can only hope that my contributions were of a high
enough caliber to match this LMAO." ~Nichole~
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Cynthia J.
aka cheshire-cat
Canada
"When I first
discovered ATCs a year and a half ago I was in a creative slump and these
tiny pieces of art brought me instantly back to life. Sharing and trading
these cards with others has been a truly joyous experience for me and I'm
always amazed by the energy, heart, creativity and spirit that others pour
into their work. I strive to match this...This is my inspiration and I
hope that others enjoy my cards as much as I enjoy making them."~Cynthia~
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Joumana Medlej
aka Alpaca
Lebanon
"I'm a designer and have been involved in
crafts since I was a kid. When I discovered ATCs an exciting new world of
bringing design and crafts together in unlimited experimentation was open
before me. They take such a small amount of materials, and relatively
little time, that I can try things and express ideas I'd never get around
to doing on a larger canvas. To me they have been a way to keep the
inspiration tap steadily flowing in parallel with my professional work." ~Joumana~
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Cindy Pettit
aka ibiddy-boo
USA
"I have always been fascinated with
miniatures, and when i first happened upon ATC's, it was instant love! i
had begun painting not long before discovering those little marvels, and
working on such a tiny canvas really enthralled me. i also found it
challenging, but i love a good challenge. ATC's were my introduction into
mail art, and a whole new world that has allowed some bottled up
creativity to finally be released." ~Cindy~
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Heather Mann
aka yardenxanthe
USA
Heather Mann was introduced to Artist's Trading Cards in late fall 2003,
and has been steadily creating new ones ever since. "I used
collage
as the medium for the Emu ATCs, incorporating hand-marbled paper, acrylic
paint, a hand-carved stamp, embossing powder, fabric, and of course, emu
feathers to create these unique pieces of mini art!" ~Heather~
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Laura Lee
aka laurasia
USA
"By day, I work in a library. By night and weekend I am a photographer,
artist and crafter. I started making ATCs about a year ago. Before
that, I was making larger sized pieces, but eventually the small,
simple format of the ATC won me over. I enjoy sharing my art and
collecting that of others." ~Laurasia~
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James O'Donnell
mysundown15
USA
James is the Server Maintenance Director for Nervousness.org.
"I'm 17 years old, looking for a job, and a big ol' geek. I love movies,
books, subways, music of all sorts, and watching Six Feet Under and Queer
as Folk.
When I'm away from Nervousness, you can find me lounging around with my
friends, playing with my dog Bubba and my cat Jasmine, and being an
amateur photographer. I'm also just getting into growing herbs and making
zines." ~James~
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Hollis
aka possum
USA
A librarian and teacher, Hollis
says about Nervousness.org "I love that there is a place where creativity
seems limitless and encouraged regardless of how unconventional it may
seem, and so far, I have only read really positive encouraging things on
this site. It doesn't seem pompous like what I used to think made art
Art." ~Hollis~
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"I had so much fun working on these...I
was impressed by how easy it was to manipulate the feathers. I know
the feather alone and emu love are very straight forward and simple, but I
really liked having the feather alone on a plain background. And I
couldn't resist my own version of the Emu picture that is so readily
available on the net. I have just started ATCs recently.
My first were around Halloween. And with "Eek-mu 2" I created my
121st. It is a very relaxing way to spend an evening." ~Rustell~
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Kelli Kitty
aka kittymao
USA
Kittymao
refers to herself as a Dork. She spends a lot of her time doing
artsy fartsy stuff- in fact, she has a $50,000 debt and a bachelor's
degree to prove it. She likes punk music and Mondrian. And
cats. Mao.
View
more of her art here.
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Jenn Hollowell
aka jmhcreativesolutions
USA
"I started creating ATCs because I enjoyed
the use of such a tiny canvas and the ability to explore so many new forms
of media. On a larger canvas, I'm too intimidated to try new things. Using
ATCs, I've been able to experiment and explore with ease." ~Jenn~
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Sarah Nelson
aka medeous
USA
"My first exposure to emus came on a trip to
Australia in December of
1976.
My first exposure to ATCs came on a visit to Nervousness.org in
September
of 2003.
Both were memorable." ~Sarah~
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"Jolee aka Picasso loves mail art
and is involved on the BOD of Nervousness.org. In addition to Nervousness,
Jolee works for Doulas of North America, a non-profit organization that
certifies birthing companions. Jolee once baby-sat an emu egg for a week
that unfortunately turned out to be unfertilized, however she enjoyed the
incubator experience none the less." ~Jolee~
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Her
ATCs were made using several relatively basic household materials: Sharpie
and Crayola markers, film, embroidery thread, cardstock, and the
not-so-basic emu feathers. The photographs were taken by Seattle
photographer George Vernon.
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