3 Ways to Protect the Environment with Sustainable Art
- Our Virtual Studio
- Aug 24, 2021
- 3 min read
Author: Lu Yin Wai, 22nd of August
As a person and an avid art lover, who expresses this love from art gallery visits to making art with my own hands at home & art classes, a couple of questions relating to the environmental impact of artworks always surfaced:
What materials were used in artworks?
How do artists make artworks with these materials?
What happens to the remaining materials that were not used?
How are these completed artworks transported to different locations?
What happens to the artworks if these are not bought by the buyers?
On 12 August 2021, Our Virtual Studio (OVS) organised the ‘Sustainability Talk’ event, where the guest special panel talked about various topics relating to the importance of sustainability in art.
Based on the talk and discussion with attendees, I will break down how you can take small steps in protecting the environment with sustainable art.
Using eco-friendly art materials
Paints from Natural Earth Paint
Creating art with oils, acrylics, resins and other art-related chemicals can cause serious damage to the environment.
Imagine washing your paintbrushes at the sink after a routine painting session. The water used to clean your paintbrushes loaded with these art-related chemicals flows to the rivers and seas, leading to easy water contamination and thus harmful damage to the animals and plants that live in these bodies of water as their natural habitat.
So, when looking for art supplies, it is important to look for alternatives while taking these into considerations:
Recyclable packaging and compostable materials
Non-toxic and biodegradable
Manufactured with 100% renewable energy
Gold certification
Proper waste disposal
For starters, you can get art supplies from Natural Earth Paint who ensures eco-friendly art kits for all ages to reduce environmental impact, including the use of ingredients, packaging, and facilities.
They also have recipes on paints that you can make from scratch!
The art materials’ life cycle impact
Have you ever thought of how products come to brick-and-mortar and online stores?
Anthropocene Conveyor Belt
Let’s take coffee as an example. Your favorite café-sourced coffee beans from the island of Java, Indonesia. At the plantations, the farmers harvest and process the cherries followed by drying them into coffee beans. Coffee beans are graded and sorted before these are shipped to cafés across the world by land and sea.
From seed to cup, all these steps impact not only the environment but also human production and consumption. The same goes for how other products go into a linear process.
Life cycle analysis – the impact of shoe design choices
Given the impact of these discussed factors, take a step back and ask yourself these questions before buying these art materials:
What is made of? – materials and ingredients
How is it made? – the process of production, use and after usage
Who makes it? – management values and worker treatment
Let your brands know how you feel about the product by leaving online reviews and encouraging them to take initial steps in producing art materials that bring positive impacts to the environment.
Consider Pros and Cons of Making NFTs
Technology provides inspirations and opportunities for artists to craft their works such as illustrations, animated videos, pixel art, photographs and more!
Since the global pandemic struck last year, many artists have advanced to making NFTs (known as non-fungible tokens). At present, many people have already invested their money in the growing marketplace of artists’ NFTs.
NFTs have great potential – quick liquidity, the democratization of art, interactivity between artists and audience, and supporting artists who can profit from their work throughout their lifetime – but in spite of these, they cause negative environmental impacts with the blockchain.
The art industry faces a variety of challenges when producing and transporting NFTs in the digital world:
The energy-intensive computational process of mining
Shipping emissions
Human traffic to international fairs
Oil industry investment and troubling historical ties
AI and displacing artists
The monopoly of big data
However, don’t let these challenges stop you from creating NFTs as there is plenty of room to grow and protect the environment with NFTs. Some of the bitcoin mining operations have optimized renewable energy and hosts events (such as #CarbonDrop in collaboration with Beeple, GMNUK) to raise awareness of the climate crisis through art.
Take the initiative to reach out to NFTs community pages on Instagram where they share their insights and opportunities to showcase your NFTs at virtual art spaces.
Here are some NFTs Instagram pages to discover works and get connected with other NFT artists:
Wrapping it Up
To sum it up, here's what you can do in creating art while protecting the environment:
Do your research about eco-friendly products before deciding to buy them
Using and reuse eco-friendly materials in your art
Be conscious about how the art materials, that come to the shelves, impact the environment, energy and human resources
Explore ways and possibilities in creating NFTs
Connect with community to exchange knowledge, make collaborations and involve in sustainability art & NFTs projects
Find more information from the slides which were shared at OVS ‘Sustainability Talk’ here.
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