Artist Trading Cards

 Artist Trading Cards - have you heard of them?!

I discovered Artist Trading Cards in the town of Ajijic in Jalisco, Mexico when I was having a margarita at a bar in a restaurant and saw a group of people enter and head to their table all carrying "binders". I asked the barman what the group were doing and he said he didn't know but "it was something to do with cards". Given my limited Spanish I didn't push it any further to try and see what type of cards or what they were doing with them. 

Anyway a few days later I was at a party in an Artist Residency and I happened to see someone who had been in the restaurant with a binder. When I got talking to them, I found out that what the group was doing was swapping "Artist Trading Cards". I then googled Artist Trading Cards and found out all about them.

And now back in Ireland, I am involved with an Artist Trading Cards group in Dublin.

Each month a different theme is chosen and after working throughout the month and creating artworks relating to the theme on the specific ATC sized cards, the group comes together to swap them.

Swapping the cards means you can build up a collection of cards and here's some photos of my collection.

Last month the theme was "Woodland Creatures" so I created 7 cards where I drew ladybirds. For this month the cards I created were all the same. But there are no rules, you can create cards that are all the same or different.

And here are pictures of my collection of swapped cards

If you like the thoughts of swapping Artist Trading Cards, you can google to see if there are any groups in your vicinity doing this activity, or I think some people swap or trade cards online. It's a fun activity and it is very social. The other great thing about it is that you can drop in and out of it and go to some meetings or miss one from time to time, there really is no pressure. 

I am really happy to be involved in this activity and I am always amazed by all of the work created by the group members. It is always fascinating to see the different approaches to the theme by all. I am also loving seeing my collection of cards grow by the month. For me personally, I am not much of an artist, but I do enjoy doing something creative and physically present that gets me off my screen. I spend so much time online that I feel it is really good for my brain to be involved in this non-digital group!

Let me know what you think of Artist Trading Cards and whether you will look to get involved in a group, where ever you are in the world.

Here's one of my favourite cards that I completed. It was for the theme of "Fruit and Vegetables"

Can you guess what it is based on?!