Employees at our Mesa location turned artistic and creative hands to one of the hottest trends in the art world: ATCs, or Artist Trading Cards. In August 2009 a couple of us decided to challenge one another to create these miniature works of art. From two or three participants, word of mouth saw a sign up list with 15 people wanting to give it a try. As instigator of this challenge, I picked a theme and asked each participant to produce three ATCs for swapping. Lori Whipple told some of the folks at the Phoenix location and a few expressed a desire to also join in. All told: 11 Mesa employees and two Phoenix employees turned in the required cards by the September 14^th deadline. The theme for this swap was WINGS. Each card had to depict the artists’ interpretation of something with wings.

To Kyle from Yvette

So, what exactly are Artist Trading Cards? These are small works of art traded amongst artists and craft persons. The purpose of ATCs is to share art while promoting the artist. Comparable to sports trading cards, ATCs must measure 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches. That’s really the only hard-fast rule. Virtually any type of material can be used for a base: sturdy paper, cardboard, cardstock, metal, wood, plastic, canvas, playing cards. The artist can then use any method of expression to create art. Watercolor, rubber-stamping, collage, pen and ink, etc. Embellishments for creating a 3D card are equally as unlimited. Shells, buttons, game pieces, metal trinkets, broken jewelry, beads and found objects are some of the popular items.

The cards were divvied up in a fair and equitable manner. A name was drawn from a container then three cards were chosen from another container. As long as the person whose name was drawn did not get one of their own cards, the first three cards chosen went to that name. If a card was picked that was created by the chosen name, another card was picked instead. The other consideration was that a person could not receive two cards from the same artist. Envelopes were then distributed to each artist containing three ATCs.

To TJ from Nancy

You can see the name of the recipient followed by the three cards they received in our Flickr gallery. Some of the cards had depictions on both sides. Both sides are shown. In a few instances the card has three photos, surprises were in store for some lucky folks.

I would love to see another swap take place with all of our locations participating. If there are customers who show interest in this art trend, maybe a customer participation swap could happen.

Thanks to all the employees who showed interest in our art project. This was a lot of fun and generated a community feeling within our store(s). There are quite a few talented people at Bookmans. Sharing art is smart! And fun.

You can see all of the Artist Trading Cards in our Flickr gallery.