2/24/09 Art As Environmental Catalyst
Today I visited a site called G2 Gallery www.G2gallery.com with a tag line of “Supporting Art and the Environment.” The site was filled with artwork made by “environmental artists.” I found it through a link provided by the wonderful environmental awareness boosting website www.emagazine.com
The photographs on this site are truly beautiful. And, they do call attention to the beauty of the natural world and support “the appreciation” of the few pristine wild places left. They also do generate general awareness of the environmental issues we face.
But where some artists take beautiful color photographs of the last wild remaining places on earth, I can’t help but wonder how much fossil fuels it took to get them to their remote location, for example? And what kind of wear and tear took place at the site during his or her visit? Also, how many chemicals did it take to produce and develop their film? Or if digital images, what about the inks and papers it takes to print them, then finally to matt and frame them?
Is this really being supportive of the environment?
Where is the niche for an eco conscious artist like myself who does very little to minimal damage to the earth/air/water/wildlife in our art making process?
I am a mixed media artist who grows and uses my handmade plant papers in my artwork - collages of handmade paper on canvas. My home-grown plants are grown in my National Wildlife Federation certified garden or my Monarch Waystation garden. No chemicals are used in the growing of my organic plants that I turn into acid-free, highly textured handmade plant papers. I am very careful to gather and harvest only non-protected plants. No toxins are used to make my artwork (with the exception of the acrylic matte medium I use to protect the collages surface.) The leaves and processed low-tech and are mostly hand pressed in an old, repurposed telephone book. The stones, twigs, seapods or beach wood I pick for my collages on canvas are gathered from my frequent walks in the forest or nearby Lake Michigan.
I may be responsible for some wear and tear on the earth from the canvas and acrylic medium I purchase and use, but the only actual fossil fuels are used in the delivery of art to my galleries.
My vision is that my artwork will play a key role in bringing awareness of environmental issues to the public. Does not my artwork deserve to be listed in the “Supporting the Earth” Category?
