What Is Sustainable Art?
Sustainable art was born out of a rise of world wide environmental consciousness and was used as a way of highlighting the relationship between humans and earth. Also called ecological art, sustainable art is created with the key principles of sustainability in mind. These include:
• Social justice
• Ecology
• Non-Violence
• Grass roots democracy
A sustainable artist always considers the wider impact their art might create and strives to create pieces that cause minimal impact on the environment. They do this by using natural elements in their artwork such as mud, stones, sand and feathers.
A sustainable artist takes their inspiration from the earth and the environment around them, working with nature rather than fighting against it. The aim of sustainable art is to highlight the very serious issue of climate change and the ecological impact humans are having on this planet.
“Art will never be able to exist without nature.” Pierre Bonnard
The History OfSustainable Art
Due to industrialism in the late 1950’s and early 60’s environmental concerns became prominent within Western societies. People were rapidly becoming more aware o fthe impact humans were having on our planet. This thought process then infiltrated into art and the environmental art movement was born. More and more artists began to consider the environmental impact that their art was having, and strived to rectify this by creating sustainable artwork.
The first recorded evidence of the sustainable art movement was in the late 1960’s, early70’s during the conceptual art movement. The first ever Earth day was in 1970where both artists and activists united to spread awareness of the ecological crisis we were now facing.
Sustainable art has also been connected to the end of the Cold War in 1989 when new awareness of global, ecological and social problems emerged. Wishing to leave behind traditional media artists began to experiment with natural elements.
Types of Sustainable Art
Examples of sustainable art forms are as follows:
• EcologicalArt
• Land Art
• Bio Art
• RenewableEnergy Sculptures
• Eco Design
• Closed-loop fashion
• Upcycling
Notable Sustainable Artists And Their Works
Robert Smithson
One of the most famous sustainable land art examples is the piece by Robert Smithson named Spiral jetty created in1970. The sculpture was built near Rozel Point in Utah and is constructed entirely from basalt rocks, salt crystals and mud. Stretching from the shore of the lake 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide.
Smithson launched his groundbreaking exhibition “Earthworks” in 1968 at the Dwan GalleryIn New York.
Earth or land art became a popular movement throughout the 1960’s inspired by the newly emerging Minimalism concept.
Choi Jeong Hwa
Another notable sustainable artist is Korean Pop artist, Choi Jeong Hwa. Hwa makes sculptures using only recycled or upcycled materials. Creating a mixture of both small and larger scale pieces, he regularly uses materials ranging from old banners to shopping trolleys. The aim of his art is to make the viewer think about consumption & mass production and the effect it has on our planet. Hwa encourages his audience to engage with his pieces through touch and often creates walk-through pieces.
Chris Maynard
ChrisMaynard, a passionate conservationist and member of Artists for Conservation, creates intricate art from feathers. On his website, aptly named, FeatherFolio, you can see examples of his works. Maynard began his creative journey with feathers when he was just 12. With a background in biology and ecology, he found a way to combine this knowledge with his love for feathers to create his unique sustainable art pieces.
“My work with feathers gives mea satisfying perch from which to view the world.”
As the awareness of environmental concerns grows so does the call for more sustainable art. It’s becoming increasingly common for artists to use their work as apolitical message, a message for change on this Earth.
Written by Georgina Caro