"What I like best about ATCs is their very tactile nature. I can sort through my collection to admire and organize them. I can pull them out from their plastic pockets and touch them, smell them, turn them over, open them up (the book-style ones), read them, absorb
their dynamics.

These precious little bits of art are encased in their glassy plastic sleeves, nine to a page, and every one absolutely an individual. Nine pieces of pure inspiration to a page! And what did I have to do to get them? Only meet with other artists and creatives and exchange my own cards.
One-for-one, no matter who you are—student, homemaker, full-time artist, garbage collector. It doesn't matter. Every individual card gives a little insight into the creator. Having a collection is like having a photograph album filled with snapshots of individuals' minds—some dark and deeply complex, some light and serene, some bright and juicy with fun.

My own cards run the gamut from blazing exclamations of joy and frustration to monochromatic meditations. It really doesn't matter what I churn out; I can't be afraid when my 'canvas' is only two-and-half by three-and-a-half inches. If it's terrible, I throw it away, no big loss. Or if I am uncertain, I bring it with me to trade anyway—I never know who will find my artistic stumblings faultless. Although I love to look through other people's cards to pick one out, a lot of the joy in trading comes from seeing what the other person will choose.

The cards are made out of anything and everything that can be cut or molded to the right dimensions. In my own collection, most of the cards are drawings or collages on paper. However, I also have cards made from wax, a card made out of a bug screen from a window, clear plastic threaded with wire and beads, a piece of x-ray, carved foam-core, a modified candy wrapper, and a playing card covered in feathers. I've seen cards made from cloth, beer cans, shoelaces...I dream of cards made out of porcelain and leaves and bicycle tires."
~Endrene Shepherd

Join Endrene for an ATC workshop and trade at Ethical Addictions (20411 Fraser Hwy, Langley) on Monday, August 15th from 7:00-9:00 pm. Newbies and pro traders welcome. FREE! Opus Langley will be providing some materials for the workshop, so that everyone can make something to trade. Endrene will give a brief history of ATCs and outline the guidlines for trading as well as answer any questions.

"I was introduced to ATC in 1999 at the Alternator Gallery. Margo Yacheshyn, who had moved to Kelowna from Calgary, was involved with the ATC scene there and asked the Alternator Gallery to hold an Artist Trading Card workshop. Since then I have been a part of facilitating monthly trading sessions and workshops through the
Alternator Gallery.