Our Environmental Responsibilities as Artists

I wanted to share some articles I have read about properly disposing one's art materials as well as maintaining a safe and hazardous free art studio.

Not only is it important for artists to be spreading the eco-friendly word, but we all must practice what we preach.


photo provided by www.onlineartcenter.com

Here are some important tidbits of information. I have links to the full articles below.

From Environmental Management in Tucson, AZ:

Organic solvents, such as turpentine and mineral spirits, should not be poured down the drain because they kill bacteria that break down other waste products. Some solvents can be recycled, which greatly reduces the amount to be disposed:

1) Slowly pour used or dirty solvents through fine steel mesh, or a coffee filter, inserted in a metal funnel and into a receiving can.

2) Cap and clearly label the container as to what it contains and when it was retrieved.

3) Package the dirty solvents and chemicals in the filter in a sealed container, and dispose of it through regular trash pick-up procedures

.

Purchase in as small a quantity as possible. Although larger containers might be cheaper on a per volume basis, having large quantities of toxic and flammable materials around is more of a hazard, and disposable of leftover amounts is a problem. Also, if an art materials in powdered form comes in a paper bag or sack, store the opened bag in a metal or plastic container with a lid. You can also empty the bag into the container.

Store rags in a metal fire-proof container, empty daily. Hang oily rags in a well ventilated area (outside). Another alternative is to place them in a pail of water. When dry dispose of in regular weekly garbage pick-up.

From Art Materials Safety, by E.L. Kinnally
This article has several links of other resources that ALL artists should read.

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) should always be available or obtainable from your supplier or the manufacturers of the materials (check the manufacturers or suppliers website or ask your retailer). These sources should provide the information at no cost.

You should also be aware that the word "non-toxic" is unregulated and not covered under any US federal law. Something can rightly be called "non-toxic" when it has been tested, and its ingredients tested separately, and then the test methods and test results are available to consumers. There are more than 150,000 art materials products on the market - not all of them have been tested.

Links to the full articles below:

Health & Safety in the Arts (from Tucson, AZ)

Art Materials Safety by E.L. Kinnally

Some books I have also found useful on this topic are:

Artist Beware, Updated and Revised: The Hazards in Working with All Art and Craft Materials and the Precautions Every Artist and Craftsperson Should Take
(Revised in 2005)

Making Art Safely: Alternative Methods and Materials in Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Graphic Design, and Photography

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

di Rosa Perserve

One of the Bay Areas treasures-
The preservation of natural habitat is central to the mission of the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature. The Preserve encompasses 53 acres, including a 35-acre lake, plus 162 acres of natural wildlife preserve, all under Napa County Land Trust open space protection. Holdings include Milliken Peak and a stunning variety of habitats such as oak woodland, native grasses, ferns, herbs and wildflowers.
Art in many forms is displayed in harmony with nature on the Preserve: in magnificent outdoor arenas, in a 130-year old winery-turned-residence, in an ancient olive grove and on the lake itself. Rich in flora and fauna, the open space is home or a migratory stopping point for a fascinating array of wildlife, including Canada Geese, the Blue Heron, Snowy Egrets and the Preserve's own peacocks.
"CLICK HERE" to check out the Dirosa perserve.
Their latest exhibition is called(un)natural "CLICK HERE" --the un natural pigeon image is from artist Kathryn Spence, one the group artists showing in this exhibition.

Environmental Art, Green Art Resource Page

Just found some great Environmental Art resources, projects, and books and wanted to share them. We have featured some of the groups before, but I think it is nice to have the links all in one space.

Resources

The Green Museum Largest online collection of environmental artists

Artist in Nature International Network

Women Environmental Artist's Directory

Green Arts Web environmental art web resource

Translocal sustainable contemporary art organization

Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World

The Centre for Land Use Interpretation

Treehugger Comprehensive site for environmentalists

Books and Writings


Cycle-Logical Art and ECOentric Topics

Ecovention, Current Art to Transform Ecologies


Projects/Collaborations


Groundworks: environmental collaboration in contemporary art project and exhibition

Guerrilla Gardening for urban roundabouts

Southern Forest Sculpture Trail

Free Soil An international collaboration of artists, activist, researchers and
gardeners who take a participatory role in the transformation of our environment

Artangel Commissioned art projects outside of gallery spaces


Platform It combines the transformatory power of art with the tangible goals of campaigning, the rigour of in-depth research with the vision to promote alternative futures.

I want to turn this post into a resource page, so if you have any additions please either email them to Art is Moving at artismoving@gmail.com or post the links in the comments section.

Thanks!
Happy Eco Art Making!

Eco Mish Mosh

This post is a mish mosh of environmental thoughts -
-from the new field of Ecopsychology and how it explores the effects that the Eco movement is having on our society and our personal consciousness
- to an interesting book on how do we as artists become more "green" and more consciousness of what we use in our art making
-to an interesting Blog from The Twin Cities about environmental art
-The images are from two environmental artists Fern Shaffer and Othello Anderson, their work is powerful and sublime.


'CLICK HERE" to read an excerpt from the book
The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology This book is a wake up call


Green Guide for Artists: Nontoxic Recipes, Green Art Ideas, & Resources for the Eco-Conscious Artist I think we as artists need to more conscious about what we are using in our work. That does not mean I will give up my acrylics though.

"CLICK HERE" for Do It Green.


Pictures are from artists Fern Shaffer and Othello Anderson work which is featured on the amazing Green Museum under the curators picks."CLICK HERE" to check out this great resource.

As always this is research and I am still connecting the dots. Although I do think we can say bye, bye to the Post-Modernism paradigm. Mother Earth is sick and humans cannot afford not to think differently about our environment and the space we live in. I feel animism is the only way for us to survive. It has infiltrated all aspects of our life. Thinking back to last years April Green month posts, their has been a shift. Now, Eco or enivironmental consciousness has become part of the mainstream.
For example where I work on the weekends shelping shoes- one of the guys I work with, who is seventy. Stated next year he "is going totally green-giving up the car an all"!

But is it Art?

Yesterday's post by Lisa got me thinking about a class I had during my MFA. We spent most of the time talking about activism and art, public art, community projects and the like. Most of the discussion ended up traveling down the same rabbit hole tangent of "Well, would you consider it art?" We even read a book called, But Is It Art?: The Spirit of Art As Activism An awesome book, by the way, that introduces the reader to numerous activist and public art projects.

My answer right away was always, "Yes, everything is Art." I still believe that today. But, I've been thinking a lot lately and my answer is molding into, "Does it really matter anyway" and "Why are people so afraid of art?"

I feel like the women doing the "feminine handy craft" are afraid to admit they are artists. Whether it be that they do not think what they are doing is art, but rather craft or something of that nature. The amount of energy and planning that goes into that project and the beauty of the aesthetics, and the concept, and what it does to the viewer mentally and physically...is undeniable.

In the end, art or no art, let's just keep this kind of thinking going. I'm all for "Play Tanks" and think we should all jump on this bandwagon.

Here's another project I want to share that I recently discovered.

Artist, Erika Blumenfeld is in the midst of The Polar Project, that, according to the website is

Focusing on the distinct and sublime phenomena of light, sky, and sound in the Arctic and Antarctica, The Polar Project will culminate in a series of full-surround real-time video and audio installations that evoke a profound and immediate visceral experience of the Polar Regions.

Blumenfeld believes

An experience of the Polar Regions would result in a sense of connection with, and greater understanding of, their unique environment and subsequent vulnerability to climate change. However, the task of bringing Earth’s population to an experience of the Poles sets up an obvious conundrum. Blumenfeld’s mission is to “Bring the Poles to the People”.

image provide by polarproject.com


image provide by polarproject.com

More information about the project can be found HERE.

An interview with the artist HERE.

Erica Blumenfeld's website HERE.

Art never ceases to amaze me. There are so many aspects yet to be discovered. What an awesome idea to take the parts of the world that need to be respected and deliver them to the masses. This project reminds me of Planet Earth & The Blue Planet Seas of Life documentary series that I watch before going to bed every night. For me, both projects capture the unknown and the intrinsic value that our earth holds. It's worth fighting for.

AND ART!

I love this project, but a little confused on how this is labeled as feminine handy-craft. Is that not art? I hope to create new labels or no labels on what creation is.

Lauren spoke about this concept in an earlier post about collaboration between identities and the ideal that boundaries need to be blurred..

Also,I think In this video they are speaking about in sacred geometry.
Check out his amazing book Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice (Art and Imagination)


It is getting kind of old... the separation of the marriage of science and art, matter and spirit, and craft and art.

I need to just say one word- ALCHEMY

Contributions to our new Online Gallery

Here are a few artists that have sent us their interpretation of this month's Environmental theme. I have a feeling that this online gallery is going to expand and keep expanding. One of the artists that sent us an email with his images said that artists need as much exposure as they can get. I am happy to provide that. The more connected our community gets the more we can do for our community and the rest of the world.

So, here are a couple of artists being featured on our online gallery this month.

Jonah Jacobs
more info. HERE


Mark M. Zurahov
more info. HERE



There are still a few days to get your environmental art work into our April Online Gallery set.

Submit to artismoving@gmail.com

I am so excited to see how this new side project evolves.

Allora & Calzadilla: Social Experiments

In my research on art and the environment I found Allora and Calzadilla's collaborative work. It is an interesting look at how we as humans interact with set environments. The video is from PBS Art21 series.



Biography:

Jennifer Allora was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1974. Guillermo Calzadilla was born in 1971 in Havana, Cuba. Allora received a BA from the University of Richmond in Virginia (1996) and an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2003); Calzadilla received a BFA from Escuela de Artes Plásticas, San Juan, Puerto Rico (1996) and an MFA from Bard College (2001). Collaborating since 1995, Allora & Calzadilla approach visual art as a set of experiments that test whether ideas such as authorship, nationality, borders, and democracy adequately describe today’s increasingly global and consumerist society. Their hybridized works—often a unique mix of sculpture, photography, performance, sound and video—explore the physical and conceptual act of mark making and its survival through traces. By drawing historical, cultural, and political metaphors out of basic materials, Allora & Calzadilla’s works explore the complex associations between an object and its meaning. Major exhibitions include the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago (2007); Kunsthalle Zurich (2007); Dallas Museum of Art (2006); SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (2006); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2004); and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2004). Residencies include P.S. 1 Contemporary Arts Center, Long Island City, New York (1998–99); Whitney Independent Study Program New York, New York (1998-99); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2003–04); and Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2004). Allora & Calzadilla were short listed for the Guggenheim Museum’s Hugo Boss Prize (2006) and have receive a DAAD fellowship for 2008.They live and work in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Any insights?

Circos-Visualizing Science

Responding to Lisa's post yesterday about the science, art, and activism behind Drink.Pee.Drink.Pee.Drink.Pee got me thinking about the importance of art and science reaching their fullest relationship potential.

Here is another example of what making science visually appealing can accomplish. I am brainstorming a way to use this in one of my own art projects.




Circos (Website HERE) was originally designed to visualize the genome. It has now been used for some other topics. It was used to map out insults slung during the last presidential election. Check out the interactive Circo Map HERE.

The beauty of it is that possibilities are endless. We can have a Circos map for everything. Let's make every statistic visual. Take the environment for example (as that is our topic for the month). What if we could visually map out what the world was, is and will become--in terms of global warming, population, economics, anything! I just feel that more people might understand the pile of shit we have gotten ourselves into in the last decade a bit more. Especially if it were all right in front of them and color coded.

I think that only good things can occur with a stronger relationship between science and art. Lisa and I always talk about our idea of an ideal "art world." What if everyone took an art break everyday? Imagine what scientists might come up with if they did some Urban Art on their lunch break? Imagine what an artist might come up with if they read about genome sequencing. Not to say that those things don't happen already, but in terms of a large mass of people doing it on a regular basis--I don't see evidence of that.

We can go so much further than we are now. There is some much untapped potential in our world.

One artist has interestingly talked about that in a digital painting called Cosmic Tree of Life. Roger Ferragallo, the artist, recently unveiled the 2.0 version of this massive project. His Website is HERE.



I am in love with collaboration across cultures, fields, communities, people...

Drink Pee Art?

Two artists have collaborated and they have found a solution. This is an interesting marriage of science, art, and activism.

Drink.Pee.Drink.Pee.Drink.Pee looks at the very personal environmental issues caused by flushing our pee down the toilet: harmful algae blooms in aquatic ecosystems and pee-derived pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. How do we deal with the fact that our planet’s water cycles through a closed system? How do we take control of fact that what's in our pee ends up in the water we drink? "CLICK HERE": to check it all out.


I think this is an amazing project. Part of me is thinking is this really art or just an amazing visual and interactive enironmental actvism project. Ah the fuzzy line between "what is art?" Any thoughts?

Our Online Gallery

Okay, so Lisa and I have been talking back and forth for a while about starting an online gallery. I just signed us up for a flickr account and we are ready to showcase your art!

So, here's how it is going to work for now. If you have images of your work that relate to this month's theme ENVIRONMENTAL ART send it our way!

artismoving@gmail.com

And tell us a little about yourself. We will upload it to our flickr account and show it off to the world. The more websites your art is on, the more people get to enjoy it!

This is just the beginning. I have a feeling this might become something big for us!

So, send those jpegs!

The Urban Eco Art Movement

More Recent Eco Art Projects!

There is a wide spread movement to bring nature back into the cityscape. I'm all for it. I am not a fan of concrete jungles. Although they make beautiful black and white images, they are hard to look at on a day to day basis. I'd much rather look at a blooming magnolia tree.

Miami artist Xavier Cortada has begun an eco art movement of his own, encouraging fellow Miami dwellers to replant native trees. Cortada places green flags in front yards asking participating residents to plant something. And when they do they place a sign that reads:

"I hereby reclaim this land for nature."


photo provided by www.reclamationproject.net

He calls it Urban Reforestation. In his own words, Xavier Cortada states,
"The Reclamation Project explores our ability to coexist with the natural world. It reminds us of what our community looked like before all the concrete was poured."

Check out http://www.reclamationproject.net/?U_index for more information.


This next project holds a special place in my heart. I feel as though the artists and I share the same core concept when it comes to our artmaking.



Photograph provided by www.artbeatgreensboro.org

Polymorphic Plastic Parade: Eco-art installation
Greensboro, NC


Artists Sarah Witt and Ian Gamble, following the traditions of Native Americans to use ALL materials to make something, have used what most people deem as trash, recyclables and useless to make life-sized usable tipis.


photo provided by www.artbeatgreensboro.org

Witt says,

“For me, the interesting thing is ‘Hey, here’s this waste that nobody thinks about: Industrial incidental trash,’” Witt says. “Plastic grocery bags are something we see almost every day. We don’t see these lumber tarps as often.

“When Native Americans used a natural resource to build something, they used every single sinew, bone, every intestine, and artery. It’s interesting - the juxtaposition between the ways we build.

So we see the project as a way of taking our waste and using it in a more historical manner.”

Powerful Projects! I love artists taking initiative!

This is an amazing site on Art for the Environment

The world of art has always played a critical role in provoking thought and generating dialogue. The UNEP Art for the Environment initiative aims to generate environmental awareness using the universal language of art as a catalyst for individuals, communities and leaders to focus on environmental values.
UNEP hopes that, by sharing artists' sensitivity to the plight of the planet in works of art ranging from ancient and indigenous objects to contemporary forms ."CLICK HERE" to check out this amazing program that is located in Kenya. !

Image above is from Lou Hong. Please check the rest of the series called "Swan's" "CLICK HERE' I am completely enthralled with his work.
Check out this amazing project they are also doing called Shootback. This program is kind of like the movie Born in the Brothels."CLICK HERE"
Shootback
I would love to collaborate with UNEP. Any comments.

Don Simon: Nature 2.0

I had such a great time on our Urban Eco Art Trail last Thursday. I love when art can bring various worlds/cultures/ideas together. It needs to happen more often. To me its a reminder that all things are connected and must be held at the same level.

I have been on an Internet researching frenzy to find some up and coming contemporary Environmental Artists. This realm of art is so juicy and fresh! It keeps changing and artists keep coming up with new ways to say the same idea. I love it.

One example is Don Simon who is currently showing his work at the YARGER | STRAUSS Contemporary (YSC) in Beverly Hills.


photo provided by Yarger/Strauss Contemporary

Simon is literally combining nature with the city. They have become one with his pencil drawings. Talk about an artist providing a new perspective. What do you think Simon is trying to say with his art? What does it make you think and feel? I feel like I'm underwater looking up when I view the above image. The sting rays are above me, but don't see me. But, the city is around me, almost at my level. Is he trying to say that the combination of the two is inevitable? Or, is he trying to get his viewers to think about the world as it once was? What do you think? For more images of Simon's work, check out the Yarger/Strauss Website HERE.


Another current eco art event I'm super excited about is a plastic bag light installation entitled, “A Cloud of Bags Visit the Prado" done by an art group called Luzinterruptus. Check out more of their work HERE.


photo provided by inhabit.com

To read more about this installation, visit www.inhabit.com

What would you do with 80 plastic bags?

If you know of any environmental arts events in your area, send them our way. We would love to post them. artismoving@gmail.com

On a side note, I've been thinking lately about the artist's responsibility when it comes down to the material used. I am at a point where I am only re-using material. I go to a goodwill or some such store and get inspired for artmaking there. But, what if I want to use an original piece of material. And, not all artists are junk artists like me. I have found a book that, while it is a bit technical, may answer some questions. Materials and the Environment: Eco-informed Material Choice seems to be the best book out (currently) about materials. Anyway, thought I'd share.

Sacred Sites in the Urban Jungle: Downtown Oakland

Sacred Sites in downtown Oakland was an amazing collaboration with Lauren and my students from our workshop series at Art is Moving "CLICK HERE"
It was also an continuation of my own series of Eco Art, which I call "Tree Shrines," a site specific project that I want to take around the world.'CLICK HERE" to check out some of my sites.

For me this workshop class was about honoring the trees,that are killed and used by us. We had an amazing time as a class. We created art around dead trees, phone lines (telephone poles) that intrinsically connect all of us. The funny thing is my boyfriend suggested this a year ago as a joke. In translation I love honoring the dead.
Also, an important aspect of this project is the viewer. Cliche as it is "we want them to stop and smell the roses." or just to be conscious of their environment and how little things can make a big difference. As we were created these shrines many people who walked by were smiling! One homeless guy laughed and asked us if the steel pole Lauren and Patti were making into a tree would grow.
This project as a whole is the resurrection of panspsychism.

what does panspychism mean? "CLICK HERE"
For more research on this philosophy check out this amazing book from one of my professors at JFK Christen DeQuincy. He taught an amazing class called Paradigms of Consciousness. This book takes an in depth look at panspyschism Radical Nature: Rediscovering the Soul of Matter




Lauren and I will be doing a Eco-Trail in the Bay area this month. We will be making a call out to artists. If you want to join let us know. Also, our next workshop series will be starting soon. It is fun and inspiring. We invite all to join or drop in.
"CLICK HERE"

After this class, Sacred Sites in the Urban Jungle, I will never look at telephone poles the same way ever again.

Art and the Environment

Happy April Everyone!

Wow, time is flying by quickly these days. Lisa and I will be transitioning to the many aspects and layers of Environmental Art this month. I hope it inspires all of you to make even the tiniest shift in your life to make an astronomical difference for our future environment.

I picked up an interesting book that I feel is a great connection between last month (the economy) and this month. The Ecology of Commerce written by Paul Hawkens has been an intense read for me so far. Hawkens wrote this book in 1993 begging the world governments and business owners to pay attention to the environment when they conducted business. Here are just a few excerpts to give you an idea of the dire situation we are in:

Whatever possibilities business represented, whatever dreams and glories corporate success once offered, the time has come to acknowledge that business as we know it is over. Over because it failed in one critical and thoughtless way: It did not honor the myriad forms of life that secure and connect its own breath and skin and heart to the breath and skin and heart of our earth.

Pollution is no longer restricted to industrial centers like Pittsburgh or Nagoya, but affects every forest, ocean and continent, as well as the whole of the upper atmosphere.

If economic growth is founded on an ever-increasing reliance on chemicals, toxins, poisons, and energy by-products, then we will choke on the growth that is supposed to save us.

What is good for the balance sheet is wasteful of resources and harmful to life.

Dr. Karl-Henrick Robert...his process called the Natural Step...states "If we compare our cells to those of other animals, we must go to the molecular level in order to perceive the differences that do exist. The basic structures and functions of our bodies are nearly identical to those of eagles and seals, all the way down to the molecular level."

The book is full of business mishaps and successes when dealing with the environment. I'm in the middle of it, so if I have more insights I will share them.

Last year Lisa and I challenged the definitions of the many subcategories of environmental art. This year I would like to focus more on the responsibilities of the artist.

What can we do in our own field to make a positive impact on the environment?
What are some small steps you have taken in your own work to be eco-friendly?
How can we use art to show the world that the future generations are depending on us?

Comments are welcome!