Artist Trading Cards

The Palermo Community Library rolled out its new Artist Trading Card (ATC) program on Saturday, April 15th. What are Artist Trading Cards you ask? They are miniature works of art that you create to trade with others. You don’t need to be an artist to participate—people of all ages and skill levels are invited to join the fun. The Library will have blank 2 ½ x 3 ½ inch cards available to use for creating your own tiny works of art that you can trade for others’ cards.

Pick up a blank card at the library, create your artist trading card and then exchange it for someone else's. The front side of the card is the art side. The back of the card tells about you (name and city), the title of your art card and when the card was created.

The ATC project is intended to allow people from different backgrounds to participate in an ongoing art project, which is not part of the art market. Anybody can participate in the project and all techniques are allowed. ATCs are produced in various media, including pencils, pens, markers, watercolor, acrylic paints, collage, papercuts, found objects, or even metals, fiber, wax and other materials.  

Artist Trading Cards is a conceptual art project started in 1996 by the Swiss artist M. Vänçi Stirnemann. He called it a Collaborative Cultural Performance. He began making small artworks the size of commercial trading cards, then held an exhibition of 1200 of his cards at his second-hand bookshop and gallery in Zurich, Switzerland. Today, there are regular trading sessions in more than 30 cities in Europe, Canada, the US and Australia. There are also Facebook groups that allow for worldwide trading.

Use the cards provided, or download and print (Word doc) at home on card stock. (If you don't have card stock, sheets can be purchased at the library for 15 cents each.) Please check your print settings to ensure the cards measure  2 ½ x 3 ½ inches.