Check out the Pintrest board for this episode here!
At the top of this week’s show The Gals give a brief explanation of what an Artist Trading Card is but neglected to give you the specific measurement they should be, which is 2 ½” X 3 ½” (I mean who knows what size a baseball card is off the top of their head?). If you want to know a little more about the history of ATCs, you can check out the Wiki page about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards. We didn’t get too into the history of these cards because there is a lot of conflicting opinions on who/where exactly this idea originated (particularly regarding who in North America was the first to do ATCs).
Quickly regarding disagreements about stuff like this: We are here to introduce you all to fun and maybe new types of art. We are here to talk about art that we like doing. Yes, we hope to teach you all some things… or not. This is not an art history podcast. We are not here to teach you about art history. We know that we will occasionally get details wrong or possibly simplify things too much. We kind of don’t care, so we hope you don’t care either. But if you do care, we still don’t care. That being said, after further discussion, The Gals decided that it should be pointed out that although there is debate about selling ATCS the “official” rules state that they absolutely cannot be sold. ATCs that are sold are generally called ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions & Originals). As far as we are concerned this is a bit of a tip-for-tat… I mean they are fucking ATCs… the only difference is that they are being sold. But… you know… technicalities.
Anyway, we promised examples and examples we have. First, here are Katie’s “Thank You” ATCs that she sometimes sends out to people who buy her art journals. They are always decorated and colored differently.
Sharon and Katie practically drooled when talking about artist, Cindy Couling’s ATC work. Here are a couple of screen shots from her website as a little teaser. To see these cards and read some really great ATC information (and you should really have a look around her site to check out ALL of her incredible work… prepare to swoon!). http://www.couling.com/
And here are pictures of the super cool display that Cindy uses for her ATCs (and another peek at some of her work).
Although she didn’t get mentioned her work on podcast because the pictures were submitted after we recorded Katie and Sharon really wanted to include these beautiful ATCs made by local Portland Artist, Alicia Caudle. You can check out more of her work on her Altered Bits website (more swooning!). http://alteredbits.com/index.php
Thank you to both Cindy and Alicia for providing some wonder and inspiring examples!
Katie mentioned the Art-O-Matic vending machine at the Portland bar and restaurant Radio Room. You can get the address and check out their menu by visiting their website, but you will have to go there to see the Art-O-Matic in all its glory! http://www.radioroompdx.com/
Oh! One more thing! Sharon mentioned finding ATC blanks while at an art store and we wanted you to know what those look like and see the selection that is actually available (you can also get the sleeves here as well). http://www.strathmoreartist.com/cards-atc.html
If you have any comments or questions about this, or any other episode please emails us at twoartsygals@gmail.com. We hope you enjoyed the show! Happy fall everyone!!! It has finally cooled down here in the wonderful Pacific NW and Katie and Sharon are working on a whole new batch of episodes to keep us all busy and entertained through the cold moths to come. Until next week… make some cool shit, yo!
twoartsygals 
Hey, just found your podcast! Before I forget, art-o-matic (is that how they spell that?) Is nationwide! I ran into their website a long time ago, but had forgotten about it. I need to go find the website again and see if there are any of them closer to where I live, out in the sticks, way outside of the teeny town of Snohomish, Washington, which is east of Everett.
You can actually sign up with them to have your art sold in the machines. I think it’s a fantastic idea too! They sure were cool looking on the website.
On the ATC “controversy”, I think one way the cards sold and those traded are differentiated is by the name. On eBay and Etsy, they are usually called ACEO for the cards sold, while the supplies are usually still sold for the Mir common name of ATC. ACEO stands for artist cards editions originals, which allows for selling your own originals, or reproductions, often of their larger, more expensive, originals.
I know it doesn’t satisfy EVERYONE, but some people will NEVER be satisfied. It just occurred to me, you probably knew all that, but wanted to keep it simple, for people who hadn’t heard about ATCs at all.
Thanks for a great podcast from a new listener, who is going to go back and listen to the back episodes.
Fran
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Oh my goodness! We had no idea that that Art-O-mat was a nation wide thing or that you could get your art put in them! We found the website and will be mentioning it in the next episode we record (so that will probably air a week from today). Thank you for that information and for chiming in on the ATC “controversy”. WE forgot to mention ACEO on that podcast episode but did mention it briefly in the episode notes blog post for that show.
We appreciate the comments and feedback! And we are super happy you found us!
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Oh, BTW, I have got a bunch of baseball cards that aren’t worth anything that I will collage right on top of, or I may take a piece of work I didn’t like much, and cut it into ATC sized pieces which sometimes breaths new life into the previously disliked piece, turning it into a few pieces I like as is, and perhaps a few I will use as the base of an ATC, or cut up even smaller to use in collages. I almost never throw anything I’ve drawn out painted away.
Fran
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