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Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art the size of baseball cards, or 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches, small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets. Produced in various media, the cards are usually traded or exchanged rather than sold. Bill does both--selling or trading as seems most interesting.Artist Trading Cards played an important role in the Impressionists movement in the late 19th Century, with art on one side and, on the back, a kind of brief resume. They were also used throughout Europe and America as art training tools. Artists would trade the cards among themselves to study each other’s techniques and explore new art ideas and styles.More recently, in 1996, M. Vänçi Stirnemann is credited with popularizing the modern Artist Trading Card, holding trading sessions in Zurich. Interest in Artist Trading Cards has spawned social networks, clubs, trading sessions, and online mail art communities for trading the cards during real and virtual encounters.Numerous printmakers engage in making ATC and other kinds of miniature prints. The example above shows two ATC by Bill (plus his artist stamp). |
