A wall of trading cards is touring through Pennsylvania, picking up ‘creations’ as it travels. Not the popular Beckett sport trading cards or the collectable Star Trek, Super Heroes, or Pokemon cards, but Artist Trading Cards. A wall of miniature works of art.
The idea for the cards originated in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1997 and quickly caught on with some of the world’s most famous artists and art collectors. M. Vänçi Stirnemann is credited with popularizing the modern Artist Trading Card (ATC) and trading sessions.
Fred Danielson of Youngsville introduced the ATC idea when he presented a program about creating the trading cards at Warren Art League earlier this year. His trading card book is displayed at the shows. The hope is that the Art Trading Cards will catch on locally and create more interest in collecting original art.
Artist Trading Cards are 2.5″ by 3.5″ cardstock cards, which can fit in standard card collector pockets or boxes that anyone can design with various art mediums or themes. Art trading cards can be seen as the modern incarnation of several much older artistic forms. Because of their small size and usually modest price they have been linked to portrait miniatures, which flourished in the 14th century. In later centuries artist trading cards were used throughout Europe and America as art training tools. Artists would trade the cards between themselves to study each others techniques and explore new art movements. The cards paid a particularly important role in the Impressionists art movement. The Impressionists utilized both sides of their artist trading cards, art on one side and a kind of brief resume on the other. The Impressionists were the first known artists to use the cards in trade for anything other then more art. Impressionists often traded the cards with art collectors in exchange for room, board, and art supplies.
Unlike the sports trading cards familiar to all of us, each Artists card is a hand-made, one-of-a-kind, miniature work of art. Artists paint, draw, glue, sprinkle, or dab any material that can conform to the relatively flat display sleeve. Themes are endless. The shows offer blank cards and a variety of materials available for those who wish to create their own cards to be added to the traveling show. Colored pencils, watercolor and brushes, pen and ink, or other media that dries fast are good to use. Participants could also employ a collage technique with cut work and glue if desires. The end result must be a dry card.
The spring 2009 show started in Johnsonburg, PA, moved to the Ridgway Visitor’s Center, then on to the Allegheny Artistry in Youngsville, and Bollinger Enterprises in Warren. In January 2010 the show will be hosted by Café 905 at the Warren Senior Community Center. As of December there were over 40 artists participating. Area students have an ATC collection on display at the Warren County Public Library through the end of March.
Local artists are expanding classes to include ATC sessions. Sandee Geer introduced the card concept to her One-Stroke Painting class. Her students each created a sleeve of 9 cards using the new techniques. They are now a part of the traveling show. Joanne Oviatt said that she is taking the idea to her quilting group. Terri Stec, creator of wearable art in silk, fashioned her cards to resemble her silk scarf creations.
The thought of the show was to entice local artists to experiment with new mediums and also novice artists a smaller canvas to create on.
The show then evolved into a traveling show through the 12 county region known as the Pennsylvania Wilds with the Elk County Council on the Arts for July/August 2009 and is now on the move to the Warren area to be displayed in 3 galleries there. More showings are being scheduled which include the Smethport Library in the Spring.
The shows will collect more artists along the way with classes and lectures at each destination. A google map was developed as well as a journal with all of the back stories for each artist and events around the show.
Sandy Pearson of Warren came on board to help coordinate shows in the Warren area. Pearson’s son John is one of the original artists in the mix also.
The end of it’s journey will be celebrated at the Flemish House Art Gallery November/December of 2010 with a reception, sale and trading session TBA.
