tagged w/ environmental art
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Last month Delia The Artist posted a challenge: she showed us her garbage, and asked us to tell her what to make of it. She received a myriad of suggestions for what to make of that garbage, and came back to us with her wacky ideas on how to make trash into treasure. Now she's at it again, and this month she teaches us how to make paper!
"Hello Current friends and Eco-maniacs! The month of September always reminds me of paper, so I thought I’d do a series on just that. Let’s start out by making some- you can recycle common items and give them new life as artsy handmade paper!
Step One: GATHER!
Paper can be made from a lot of things found around your house. Some examples of materials you can recycle into paper include junk mail, paper towels, old newspapers and magazines, damaged books, old school notes, light cardboard and flowers.
Step Two: PULP! People make pulp in a few different ways. Start by shredding your materials and letting them sit in water for a while. To ensure even pulp, a lot of folks prefer to run the paper and water through the blender. This will give you a nice consistency to work with.
Step Three: MOLD! Paper making kits can be found at any craft store- however, I’ve seen people improvise with picture frames, window screens and fabric too! I do own a paper handmold and it is assembled by putting the plastic grid first, tightly wooven screen on top, the looser screen on top of that followed finally by the wooden frame called a “deckle.“
Again, there are differing techniques to getting your pulp into the mold. You can put a bunch of pulp mixture in a tub and lower your mold into it; when you pull it back up, pulp will have flowed into the center. I used another method here that I find to be easier- I put the assembled mold into some water in my kitchen sink. Then I simply poured my blended pulp mixture into it. I move it around slightly so the pulp covers all the corners, then pull it out. Make sure you let a lot of the water drain before the next step- you can use a sponge to press the water out.
Step Four: DRY! I transfer the paper to a hard surface where I can remove the grid and deckle. I like to give my paper another pat down with the sponge; try to get as much water out of the sheet as possible before you sit it to dry. Drying approaches differ as well - stores sell something called “couching cloth” which is very helpful in removing moisture. I don’t have any though, so I simply used a towel. I’ve seen people iron their paper to ensure straightness and blow it with a hair dryer to cut drying time - but I let it dry au natural by putting another towel plus a heavy cutting board on top to prevent curling. Be patient, the drying process may take awhile!
There are all kinds of things you can use your handmade paper for, and we’re going to look at some of those projects in the following weeks! Enjoy! If you make some paper, post your pics!"
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Today's guest post is by Current Green community member John Fekner. In the 70s, John Fekner was ‘anonymously known’ for over three hundred environmental/conceptual works consisting of dates, words, and symbols spray painted throughout the five boroughs of New York. The “Warning Signs” project focused on pointing out hazardous conditions that dominated New York City and its environs in the 1970s. In the spring of 1977, Fekner created word-signs using hand cut cardboard stencils and spray paint. He began a relentless crusade concerned with social and environmental issues. Starting in the industrial streets of Queens and the East River bridges, and later on to the South Bronx in 1980, his messages were seen in areas that were desperately in need of construction, demolition or reconstruction. By labeling structures and emphasizing problems, the objective was to call attention to the accumulated squalor by urging city officials, agencies and local communities to be more responsible and take action.As an artist working with social and environmental themes for over thirty years, I’m encouraged and optimistic about the energy and concern of the current generation in developing sustainable projects and striving to achieve a better environment for all.
My first environmental works, stenciled messages that were ‘sited’ outdoor in situ were not only about communicating to the general public, but philosophically were an attempt to reduce the value of an art object to that of a shared visual experience within communities. How does one arrive at such an ideology? As an undergraduate art student, I saw an increase in awareness about environmental issues. Robert Rauschenberg’s Earth Day poster and Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog were both published in 1970. The catalog was not only exemplary of DIY publishing, but it also ushered in a modus operandi embodied in all art forms of that decade, including independent record labels, alternative art centers, pirate radio transmissions, etc. I was part of that first generation, and continue to incorporate those ideals and tactics in new online collaborations.
If you were doing multimedia art in the 70s, it usually meant that you had to make two trips to the car to get all the equipment. It was quite a balancing act to lug around a Sony Portapac camera, tethered to another person who carried the bulking recorder and other temperamental equipment i.e., sun guns, microphone booms, etc. Media centers were scarce, and artists working in NYC sometimes had to go to Long Island or upstate to rent equipment and use editing facilities catering to artists and non-profits organizations. In 1976, I was lucking enough to us the Inter-Media Art Center on Long Island. How we managed to complete projects as formats were rapidly changing is anyone’s guess. Today, I am amazed at the work that is done on portable devices right in the palm of one’s hand.
Since those early days, I continue to explore ecological themes using video and sound with both traditional artists and online collaborators. For me, I see new material is new thinking as a way of visualizing at any age or regardless of your specific artistic discipline.
Learn more about John's work at his website: Eco Art Projects-Warning Signs 4U2C and Trail Markers video
Related links:
Photos Across America: The Northern Rocky Mountains (video)
Environmental Sculpture Art (video)
Wacky underwater artToday's guest post is by Current Green community member John Fekner. In the 70s,... more
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A few weeks ago Delia The Artist posted a challenge: she showed us her garbage, and asked us to tell her what to make of it. She received a miriad of suggestions for what to make out of her garabage, and inspired some other amazing innovations.
Hello eco art fans! Thank you for being ever so patient for this follow up to my “Trash into Treasure” video. In the comments you guys left me, a lot of people mentioned the food containers, so I knew I wanted to use those. Another concept that got brought up a lot was making use of multiple pieces of garbage in one project, so I did that as well. Personally I was also going for functional; thus was born my new garbage made flower vase! Here’s what I did:
Step One: WASH! I washed everything thoroughly to prevent mold. As you see I picked the ice cream container and cut the juice container down for another project.
Step Two: PAINT! I used simple white to paint over the box. You may need a few layers to cover the words completely; don’t be afraid to have some fun- I used that gross old sponge to give it texture! Another option is collaging the piece, shown on the juice box.
Step Three: DESIGN! A few different techniques helped me make a simple design from different pieces of garbage- the yellow strip is plastic from a bag, crinkled up for texture and painted a light yellow. The orange strip is newspaper treated with watercolors. The red things are paper beads; more about how to make them in a future blog entry! Twine and a bottle cap were used to adhere them.
Step Four: USE! I used a bit Mod Podge to adhere the embellishments to the container. I thought it would be great to hold flowers! Since this held ice cream, the inside can hold water - but if you are worried about leaks, just add a bit of plastic to the bottom or seal with a water proof sealant.
Step Five: SHOW! It's looking keen with some other decor on my dining room table. I’m still considering putting something inside the bottle cap. Thanks for helping me make a cool project out of my kitchen garbage! I stayed pretty safe with the design, but obviously you could go crazy with something like this. Old magazines and comics are a great source of collaging material, and food containers are easily converted to hold anything you’d like! Next week starts a series on paper, including how to make your own!
Related Content:
Eco Art at Art Basel, Miami (VIDEO)
Meet the Rickshaw Philosopher: Burning Man combines art cars and philosophy (VIDEO)
Meet Right Here Right Nau: a socially resposible sustainable company based in Portland, OR (VIDEO)
Take a tour of Cody's sustainable, eco-designed solar efficient house modelled after a cave dwelling (VIDEO)
A few weeks ago Delia The Artist posted a challenge: she showed us her garbage, and... more
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leahl
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I am happy to announce that we are in the process of inviting guest bloggers to post on Current Green. (If you have an idea for a one time post or a regular weekly post, by all means, send me your pitch). Meanwhile, without further adieu, I introduce you to our very first guest blogger: DeliaThe Artist, who will guest blog each Thursday on the topic of Eco Art.
"I've been an artist my entire life and when I started considering my impact on the environment, my mind immediately went to art. How does my passion affect our planet- can I make my art eco-friendly? What types of materials are available to the green minded artist? What kinds of projects and methods can be used to combine creativity with environmentally sound practices?
Every week I'll be guest blogging the answers to those questions and more on the Current Green Blog! I thought the best way to start would be gathering materials from an unlikely source- garbage. Like most things, eco-art starts with awareness- Americans produce around 1600lbs of garbage per year- but what's IN all that trash? What's in mine?
From Trash to Treasure
After going through my garbage I broke them into similar groups of common materials- Junk Mail, Cardboard Food Containers and Plastic. Now I hand over the choice to the Current Community- which of those materials do YOU think I should use to make an eco-art project from? Help me turn trash into treasure by responding with your pick. Voting runs from Thursday 8-6-09 to Tuesday 8-11-09. Next Thursday I’ll be back with your choice, reconstructed into fun and functional art!
Thanks everyone, I hope we can make this and future blog entries community inclusive and inspiring!"I am happy to announce that we are in the process of inviting guest bloggers to post... more
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This is an excerpt from a conversation I had with a Mohawk Nation Indian named Ric in 1980. At the time, Ric provides an insight that connected his own world view based on his Indian heritage with a cautionary warning of the future:
"Some of them can see the writing on the wall. Others see it but they don’t give a dam. And others just don’t see it. All they can see is the Almighty dollar. You know, its like I say, it takes all kind of people to make up the world. And it’s a case of who’s going to be the strongest and who’s going do the work. Who’s gonna get it done. But it must be done. Otherwise, the whole world is, will come to an end.
You know that my people lived with a balance of nature all those thousands of years before the white man; and whenever they took something, they always gave something. And it worked out fine. And the white man came along and he just took, took, took. He’s been taking all these hundreds of years. Now after all these hundreds of years, now he’s realizing that he gotta start putting back. I mean he’s working like hell to put it back, but you got other people still taking."
The Almighty dollar means everything to them. They don’t realize that the Almighty dollar isn’t going to be worth anything to them if there’s no world to use it in."
Ric, A member of the Mohawk Nation 1980
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“We have values to live by that we can share with you. Because soon, we’ll all have to live different. We realize and we’d like you Americans to see that America is only two hundred years old. And when we see in America and its problems, it doesn’t have two hundred winters. America doesn’t even have another fifty winters. And I don’t speak of revolution when I see that change happening, I see evolution gonna happen on the Mother Earth.”
Floyd ‘Red Crow’ Westerman 1980This is an excerpt from a conversation I had with a Mohawk Nation Indian named Ric in... more
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Ok...so I might be able to give up my fantasies about living in a dome house or an earthship if I can live in this...
As part of the ecological architecture nonprofit Terreform, Mitchell Joachim, Lara Greden, and Javier Arbona designed this living treehouse in which the dwelling itself merges with its environment and nourishes its inhabitants. Fab Tree Hab dissolves our conventional concept of home and establishes a new symbiosis between the house and its surrounding ecosystem.
In order to build the arboreal frame, the designers utilize “pleaching” - a gardening technique in which tree branches are woven together to form living archways. Trees such as Elm, Live Oak, and Dogwood bear the heavier loads, while vines, branches, and plants form a lattice for the walls and roof of the house. The interior structure is made of cob (clay and straw), a tried-and-true green building approach that lends itself to customized shaping of walls and ceilings.Ok...so I might be able to give up my fantasies about living in a dome house or an... more
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"It’s like something ethereal you know is there before you but just can’t quite make out. Carbon emissions and climate change are all too real, yet such concepts are often either too intangible or large-scale to get a handle on. So when a green cloud appeared in the night sky amidst the haze of industrial smoke over Helsinki, it’s good to know the strange apparition switched on a few energy saving light bulbs in people’s heads.
The concept was more than just a spectacular light show or a simple moral message – more even than an artistic expression, with the cloud open to interpretation as toxic vapour or as the signal of a green attitude. By inspiring city folks to share in an ecological
project and change their consumption habits, Nuage Vert aimed to bring environmental issues back to reality – and away from abstract buzz words like “carbon footprints” that trip too easily off our tongues."
Using art to raise awareness: does it work if there isn't an action plan attached?"It’s like something ethereal you know is there before you but just... more
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More under water art! And yes....the scuba diver is for realz.
In undertaking the big wave-sized challenge of building whole sets above and below the sea, Steve Garrow is said to have “embarked on a journey beneath the sea to explore the depths of the mind and creativity”. The installation above depicts an underwater shanty town, calling to mind damaged environments both urban and oceanic.More under water art! And yes....the scuba diver is for realz.
In undertaking the... more
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leahl
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Imagine an art form that uses living, respiring material; an art form that creates mini eco-systems in often complex and beautiful patterns. It changes the face of urban landscapes and redefines the term “urban jungle.Imagine an art form that uses living, respiring material; an art form that creates... more
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Theo Jensen, Kinetic sculptures are lyrical, inspirational...mesmerizing. And I have to say, I'm always a sucker for this kind of advertising...6 months later, and I remembered that BMW sponsored this guy!Theo Jensen, Kinetic sculptures are lyrical, inspirational...mesmerizing. And I have... more
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leahl
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4 years ago
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From the Series:
What Follows
Description:
Charleen Touchette is a painter, feminist, writer and Native American art activist. She fuses Native American myth, childhood memories and her own personal visions to express herself. Much of her work deals with the disturbing issues of child abuse and environmental abuse.
Speaker(s):
Ava Hamilton, Native American documentary film-maker
Charleen Touchette, founder, Spiderwoman World Arts Network
Produced by:
University of Colorado
April 2001
From the Series:
What Follows
Description:
Charleen Touchette is a painter,... more
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