Art and the Environment: Responsible Materials and Practices

Hook: where does the rinse water go?

After an afternoon of acrylic painting, your rinse jar is murky. Most people pour it down the sink without thinking. But acrylic paint is made with a plastic binder, so that murky water is full of tiny plastic and pigment particles heading toward the water system and, eventually, waterways like the Great Lakes.

C3.3 asks you to understand how making and presenting art can affect the environment, and to apply environmentally responsible practices.

How art affects the environment

• Materials: pigments, metals and stone are mined; paper and wood come from trees; many paints, markers, glitter and glues contain plastics.
• Chemicals: solvents such as turpentine and mineral spirits, some spray paints and some inks release VOCs (volatile organic compounds) into the air and are hazardous waste.
• Water: paint, ink and clay rinsed down the drain add pollution and can clog pipes. (Clay should never go down a drain.)
• Energy: kilns, printers, computers, lighting, and shipping artworks to exhibitions all use energy.
• Waste: packaging, scraps, dried-out markers, single-use plastics, and work that's thrown away.

Artists are increasingly thinking about the whole life of their materials, from where they come from to where they end up.

Responsible practices you can use

Choose: water-based paints and inks instead of solvent-based ones; materials with fewer hazards; refillable or long-lasting tools; avoid glitter (a microplastic) or choose alternatives.

Reduce: plan with thumbnail sketches before using expensive materials; squeeze out only the paint you need; use both sides of paper; keep lids on so paints and glues don't dry out.

Reuse: cardboard, cereal boxes, jars, fabric scraps, old magazines and found natural objects (fallen leaves, sticks, never picked from living plants or protected areas) make great art materials.

Dispose safely:

• Wipe brushes on paper towel or newspaper before rinsing.
• Let rinse water settle, reuse the clearer water, and let the rest evaporate; put dried paint in the garbage.
• Take solvents, solvent-soaked rags (store them in a sealed metal container, as some can catch fire), and spray cans to your municipality's household hazardous waste depot.
• Reclaim clay scraps by soaking and re-wedging them instead of throwing them out.

Present responsibly: reuse frames and display materials, choose digital exhibitions or local shows, and use energy-efficient lighting.

Artists who respond to the environment

• Edward Burtynsky, a Canadian photographer born in St. Catharines, Ontario, makes large photographs of landscapes changed by industry: mines, quarries, oil fields and factories. With filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier he created the Anthropocene project (2018), about the human impact on Earth.
• Andy Goldsworthy, a British artist, makes temporary sculptures from leaves, ice, stones and sticks, often designed to melt, wash away or decay. He documents them with photographs.
• Many First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists express relationships and responsibilities to land, water, plants and animals; Christi Belcourt's paintings of interconnected plants (Lesson 7) are one example.

Art can raise awareness and model responsible practice at the same time.