Joanna Grant Mixed Media Art: ATC and ACEO Art

In the early to mid 2000s in the Ebay art selling world, a group of artists took the idea of ATCs (artist trading cards) and developed it further into an art form called ACEO. ACEO stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. ATCs were always meant only for trading/swapping, while ACEOs were for selling (or trading/swapping). Both ATCs and ACEOs must have the same dimensions as a standard trading card (like hockey and baseball cards), which is 2.5" X 3.5".

I was fortunate to be involved with the Ebay ACEO group in its infancy and spent several years selling my ACEO art on Ebay with this fantastic collection of artists.

Because I had already been selling my miniature art magnets on Ebay for several years when the ACEO group formed, it was an easy transition to move from my business card sized magnets (2" X 3.5") to ACEO size. I can remember many artists at that time who typically worked in much larger formats having real difficulty adjusting to producing original art on such a small scale. I also remember feeling so very fortunate to already be comfortable creating art at that size. It is not for everyone.

ACEOs are still very big business and I would really like to find more time to create them again. I need a clone!

Anyway, I thought you might like to see some photos of a few of the ACEOs I produced in those days. These samples are from 2005 and 2006 and are (were) all originals. Again, each measures 2.5" X 3.5" (the size of a standard trading card).

I hope you enjoy this stroll down memory lane. And just as I do with my current art, all of this older work was made with recycled and reclaimed materials.