Artist Trading Cards (ATC)
4th Wednesday
Each Month
5:00 - 6:30pm

What are Artist Trading Cards?
Artist Trading Cards (ATC) are tiny works of art (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") that are made to trade. There are no restrictions of medium or theme, materials range from collage, drawing and painting, glass, ceramic and metal to fabric and melted wax to computer-generated imagery and photography, the possibilities are endless! ATC’s are intended to be a non-commercial, non-hierarchical avenue for artistic exchange. Cards are traded one for one and all people of all ages and artistic abilities can participate.

A little history…
The original concept was developed by Swiss artist m. vanci stirnemann, who wanted to make a catalogue to document his activities with other artists. Because the cost of printing a catalogue in hockey-card format was prohibitive, he decided in 1996 to produce 1,200 cards by hand. This led to the first exhibition of Artist Trading Cards in April 1997. During the show, visitors were encouraged to produce their own cards to trade with stirnemann and others at the closing reception. From then on, a Trading Session has taken place at INK.art&text on the last Saturday of every month.  Canadian artist, Don Mabie (aka Chuck Stake) was in Zurich, Switzerland to experience the first Artist Trading Card Session in 1997. He brought the idea back to Canada and on September 27, 1997, the first trading session took place in Canada at Calgary’s The NEW Gallery.  From that point, ATC groups started trading around the world!  After meeting Don Mabie and m. vanci stirnemann in Calgary in 2000, Vancouver-based artist, Bill Thompson, brought ATC’s to Vancouver.  Thompson initiated a monthly trading session at The Grind & Gallery Coffee Bar on the third Sunday of the month.  Other Lower Mainland groups that trade ATC’s are on the Sunshine Coast and in Port Moody, Maple Ridge and now Richmond!

For more information about how to get involved with the Richmond Art Gallery’s ATC trading sessions contact Carie Helm, Curatorial Assistant at (604) 231-6457 ext. 608 or by email at chelm@richmond.ca.

Websites to visit for more ATC information:
www.artist-trading-cards.ch
www.alternatorgallery.com
www.thenewgallery.org/atc

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