When our creative juices are flowing, thinking about the toxicity or recyclability of art supplies may be the last thing on our mind.
Artistic expression is a powerful way to communicate, and we are feeling a lot these days, aren’t we? How can we best share our voice through art while also acknowledging its potential impact on the planet’s wellness?
Some of the most moving art actually takes what would otherwise be waste and incorporates it into a new life cycle.
Oddly, inspiration often comes from the purest of places: a walk in nature, a conversation with a loved one, or while listening to an inspiring speech. Finding ways to fully honour the natural world and the heart of humanity that moves us invites even more creativity – something artists are great at, thankfully.
Maybe this is a time to rethink our art habits and find more earth-friendly mediums. Using materials found in nature is a wonderful place to begin greening our creations.
Driftwood, fallen leaves, vines, shells, wave-sculpted rocks, animal pelts, sustainably harvested bark and found feathers are all works of art on their own. When collected with permission and used with respect they can find new expression as a dream catcher, drum, table centre, piece of jewellery, mobile and so much more.
Consider using sap, natural fibre twine and screws that can be removed when putting these elements together. By doing this, our art can one day become part of nature again.
Raiding a recycling box can be useful, too, especially for children’s art projects. Plastic egg cartons can be used for painting or storage for tiny art supplies. Old pieces of paper and cardboard are great for making signs and as informal canvases. Old magazines and flyers are perfect for making art collages or a vision board used as a visual representation for our intentions and dreams.
When paint and glue are involved, things, well, get stickier. Ditch the plastic glitter and aim for paints with low toxicity, not just for your little ones, but for the other creatures inevitably exposed to anything we flush down our drains. Wastewater treatment plants are generally unable to filter out such materials and, in fact, there are no requirements currently requiring them to do so.
Natural dyes are making a comeback and there are local dye masters in most communities. Get to know one or peruse the internet to learn how to make your fabric and textile dyes out of mushrooms, vegetables, roots and flowers. The results are compelling and the feel good vibes are hard to ignore.
If you must use paints regularly, do your diligence in finding the most earth-friendly sources, including considerations about how they are extracted, what chemicals are involved, what packaging they come in and how excesses are best disposed of.
Colouring books have become a modern day adult stress reducer during these times of increased anxiety and uncertainty. Refillable pens are out there and where they are not, there is a free recycling program available through TerraCycle’s writing instruments recycling program. Find out if you can start up a collection of these in your art studio or school. All qathet Regional District recycling depots accept these items for recycling.
The world needs more artists, not less. When you are moved to express through art that takes a physical form, consider how you might do this with the least impact on the earth.
Let’s Talk Trash is qathet Regional District’s waste reduction education program. For more information, email info@letstalktrash.ca.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
