ATC's are tiny trading card collages made by gluing scraps of whatever you find around your house, or buy at the hobby store; buttons, fabric, string, cut-outs from magazines or whatever. They are usually attached to a piece of card or thin cardboard. For those of you who don't like cutting and gluing, they can also be tiny drawings or paintings, or you can write on them: as long as they conform to the required size.
The "project" was started in Germany and is now global and very popular. It was started with the radical principals:
1. Art does not have to be sold. It can and should be freely traded so everyone can own art.
2. Art does not have to hang in museums or galleries and be untouchable to be appreciated.
3. Anyone can make art. In other words, ATC's are socialized art.
Here are the rules:
- All cards must be 3.5 X 2.5 inches. Vertical is preferred.
- Any medium is acceptable. The finished work must be fairly flat. Don't go too overboard with three-dimensional materials.
- On the back you must put your name, the title of the piece (remember, it is a piece of original art) and the date. If it is part of a series you must number it.
- Since this is a world art project you might want to put your city and country also. You never know who you might want to trade with.
- Trade one for one.
There are meetings all over the world where people come to trade these free pieces of art. It's a great way to have some family fun. Get together with your family on art night or game night. Get glue and scraps of whatever and start making art. Then find a swap meet and trade what you have made for something someone else has made.
Once you get the hang of it you can always start your own meetings. You can also trade by mail. As I said, this is a world project. Check out one of the many sites.
Here is a good one: http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/atcnov03.html. Just do a web search to find many more sites and to get ideas. You can find local groups and find others across the seas to trade with. There are also several Yahoo and Google discussions, and social networking sites that discuss and show ATC's.
Virginia Small is a freelance writer and visual artist. You can visit her site http://Zebracorn.com/blog to learn more about the creative art process.
