Artist Trading Cards
What you need:
- Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) – 3/student
- construction paper scraps in warm and cool color tones
- Scrapbook paper in various patterns and colors/patterns
- Acrylic Paints
- Small Paintbrushes
- Glue Sticks
- Craft Glue
- Pencils
- Water-soluble wax pastels
- Various Embellishments – buttons, sequins, etc.
- ATC Labels
Set Up:
Each student will receive the following materials:
- 3 ATCs – give them to students one at a time. Have a designated area that students can place their completed ATCs.
- 3 Labels for the backsides of student ATCs
- Scissors
- Glue Stick
- Pencil
Set up three tables with different mediums:
- Water-soluble pastels, color pencils, rulers, pencils
- Acrylic paints arranged in warm and cool colors
- Scrap-book paper, construction paper, glue, various embellishment
Discussion:
Review the color discussion document with students. Try to provide art samples demonstrating the use of color – and discuss how color is used in the piece. Provide students with an overview and history of ATCs (see below).
Instruct that each student will create 3 ATCs of their own to potentially trade with their friends. Emphasize that 3 cards may not seem like a lot, but that each card should really be considered a “mini work of art” – and that thought, time and care should be used to create each card.
The first step will be for students to complete the labels provided with their name, grade, and date. They can title each of their ATCs once their work is complete.
The only directive for this project is that students follow a particular rule/property of color for each ATC they create. For example, one ATC may include a design demonstrating the use of only warm colors, complimentary colors – or the tinting or shading of a color.
Please see samples.
Artist Trading Card Samples
Cut-Outs Trading Card Example
A specialized kind of collage is what we call cut-outs — shapes cut out from flat-color paper and arranged in a composition. The shapes can be abstract and assembled together like a mosaic to create an image, or they can be cut into specific shapes like the card on the left. Flat color compositions such as this have a bold, clean feel.
Paint Splatter Card
Paint Spatter on a card that first had a clear water wash applied.
Woven Scraps Card
Woven scraps of paper
Woven Effect Card
You can produce this affect via weaving or coloring.
A SHORT HISTORY OF ARTIST TRADING CARDS
Artist Trading Cards have been around for less than a decade. Yet, their historical roots can be traced back to the Mail Art and Fluxus movements of the 1960s, and even earlier to the Dadaist movement of the 1920s.
Swiss artist M. Vänci Stirnemann first developed the concept of Artist Trading Cards in 1996, when he decided to document his activities with other artists by producing a catalogue of 1,200 cards he created by hand. He exhibited the cards at his bookstore gallery in Zürich in May 1997. On the last day of the exhibit, Stirnemann invited anyone who wanted a card to create their own ATC to trade during the closing reception.
Many artists who make ATCs use the Internet to display their cards and to locate others willing to trade cards by mail or to share ideas. However, organized face-to-face ATC sessions are, by far, the preferred means of meeting other artists and trading cards. Today, you will find ATC swap sessions happening in most major cities around the world.
- Each Artist has their own style of how they produce their art.
- Artists from around the world would create “mini works are arts” to trade with others.
- It is like collecting baseball cards, Pokemon cards.
ATC STARTERS
Here are a few ideas to get you started on making ATCs:
- Make a card that pays homage to an artist or musician you admire.
- Create a series of three cards that relate to a particular theme, art element or principle, or medium.
- Create a card that uses a written description of a person or place as source material.
- Create a card using images and words that give a sense of a particular time or place in history.
- Make a card that focuses attention on a particular social or ecological issue.
ATC TIPS
When creating a card, follow the “Rule of Three” by including a background, focal image, and an embellishment. This principle is especially helpful when working with young artists as they have a tendency to overwork their compositions.
When working on collage, arrange the main shapes on your card before adhering them to the surface. Apply an adhesive to the back of your shapes and position them on the card. Lay a sheet of scrap paper over the surface and use a brayer or your fingertips to make sure that good contact has been made over the entire surface and that air bubbles are removed. Any excessive adhesive will stick to the scrap paper when it is removed.
MAKING & TRADING ATCs
Many art teachers use ATCs in the classroom as a basis for art lessons (on design, art history, or some other theme) and as a way to motivate students to make their own original art and interact with their peers in class. Either way, the results are the same: Students generally get excited about making and trading ATCs and often come in to work on their cards during their lunch hour or gladly take blank cards to work on at home.
Trading ATCs seems to come naturally to kids who have grown up trading Pokémon cards, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and the like. While you may want to establish some guidelines or procedures before a trading session begins in your classroom, the best trades are those that occur spontaneously between students as a result of their interest in each other’s cards. Remember that the point of the trading session is to encourage interaction and talk about the art that has been made.
Another way to structure an ATC swap in your classroom is to act as the host/hostess (just like on the Net) and have all the students turn in a card to you. You can decide how the cards will be redistributed to their new owners.
