Eco-Conscious Artists and The Materials They Use

This article “Eco-Conscious Artists and The Materials They Use” is part of our series of articles devoted to Eco-Art and Eco-Artists. Whether you are an artist or art enthusiast who was attracted to our website there is a good chance that you share our interest in caring for the environment and apply eco-friendly practices.

This article is the result of a question I posted on Facebook asking artists what eco-friendly art materials do you use? I received many wonderful comments to the question and you’ll find several of them below. You’ll find some unique ways you may not have thought of plus some good resources.

If you want to read the comments from all artists visit the discussion on Facebook. 

If you are an artist you may be interested in reading “Nature and Environmental Resources for Artists” that contains useful information to take your eco-art further. You may also want to read my article “Are Your Art Materials Making You Sick?”

The artists’ names will take you to their websites if they list it on their Facebook pages. Otherwise their names will take you to their Facebook pages.

Vincent van Gogh in Dryer Lint by Heidi Hooper.

Heidi Hooper
“I work in dryer lint mostly. Although I will use any textile smutz I find. I work with tweezers and glass holds the final piece together.”

Heidi Hooper is the world’s premier dryer lint artist. Consumer Reports calls her “The Andy Warhol of Dryer Lint.” Ripley’s Believe it or Not features her work in their museums and in their books. The work of art above by Heidi Hooper was nominated for the 2016 Niche Magazine Award in the “Recycled” category.  Read an article Heidi wrote for us here.

Ronda Richley
“I mainly use recycled materials in my work. Nothing ever from China either (except the D rings and screws that I cannot find anywhere else!) I am very environmentally conscious as I also donate to OneTreePlanted.org. I recycle canvases, wood, paper, and even peel the paint from my palette and use in my other works. Everything is reused, refurbished etc. and has been for several years.”

Beverly Todd
“I use a ‘crash’ set up that removes paint solids from wastewater. I host workshops and often have 10 artists in one week washing acrylic paint from their brushes and hands. The crash system keeps these solids out of the water system (I’m on well water) and from clogging pips and septic. So what’s the system look like? A hose, hooked up to a fish cleaning table (has two sinks) serves as an outdoor clean up station. The water drains into 5 gal. buckets. That water is treated with the ‘crash’ and poured through a giant coffee filter. The solids are left in the filter. My next project — mixing a ‘Santa Fe Gray’ with the leftover solids.”

(You can find out more about this system by visiting Golden Crash Paint Solids Waste Water Cleaning System)

Steve Barr
Artist Steve Barr founded Drawn To Help, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization created by to supplement existing art programs at hospitals, camps and treatment facilities around the country. You can read an article about him and his organization here.

“All of the art supply gift packs ‘Drawn To Help’ gives to children in hospitals contain eco-friendly pencils. We give them Staedtler Wopex HB pencils, which use less wood than most other pencils and last twice as long. They also are latex-free and nontoxic, which extremely important when you’re working with children with compromised immune systems or who are going through chemotherapy treatments. The kids love them because they know they’re better for the environment, and last a long time. One child at a camp told me hers had lasted her an entire year.”

Lin Rhys
“I created an ecofriendly watercolor set that I sell for nature journaling. I’ll be expanding with more color palettes soon! I also make ecofriendly acrylics and tempura for my own paintings, and printmaking inks. I switched my whole studio over to ecofriendly last year during the pandemic.”

Lyn Rhys is the Founding Director of Eco-Heart Alliance. Its mission is “to protect biodiversity and inspire conservation by developing and promoting ecofriendly, sustainable ways to connect people with nature.”

Andrew Abney
Not sure about eco-friendly, because pigments and pigment chemistry have specific issues. But I do reuse or recycle about 80% of my waste. What can’t be, gets disposed in the proper fashion. Things like:
1. Saving the dust from sharpening drawing pencils, charcoals, and conte crayons (separately) to lay tone in a drawing
2. Saving the shavings from wax crayons and coloured pencils, mixing them and using my Crayola crayon factory, make grayed tone crayons for further drawing.
3. Drawings that don’t end well, use the back side to test media or prints, or prime over and use for painted sketches.
4. Spread leftover acrylic paint and medium on glass and let dry. Use the polymer sheets for custom masking.
5. Use packing materials as supports for quick studies. Press out the craft paper for drawing, and cut up the boxes and prime the sheets for painting (or dry mount watercolour paper).
6. Use the thin plastic for monoprinting or masking.
7. The shredded craft paper packing materials is great for cleaning pencils and sticks after sharpening, pen nibs and ballpoints while drawing, and as a dauber for charcoal and graphite powder, and for wiping small intaglio plates.
8. I pick up damaged used books cheap, patch them up and use them as a sketchbook.
9. I use packing foam and bubble wrap to protect and store Conte crayons, pastels, and sharpened drawing pencils.
10. Unused oil paint, I scrap together together on the palette, mix, and tube for use as a chromatic gray. I have done this with acrylic and watercolour too.

There are many artists using recycled materials such as Anastassia Elias anastassia-elias.fr. She used toilet paper rolls to create miniature scenes of life to raise awareness about sanitation. You can read an article about her here.

Adriana Garces
“As an Artist, I love best to reuse materials such as wood from furniture pieces (or the whole of feasible) and fabrics as surfaces for painting. I also love to rework those materials into functional art and artistically appealing pieces.”

Sandra Duran Wilson
“I repurpose packages like tissue boxes and toothpaste boxes. I make corrugated cardboard special with gold leaf and used dryer sheets spread with plaster and paste make marvelous textures.”

Yvonne Welman
“I use open acrylics from Golden because you can do the same techniques as with oil painting. They are less toxic with cleaning. Just water is needed. I use old materials from my mother and pieces I made as a girl (knitting, embroidery and hand stitching) I also use things like old paper fasteners, parts of ballpoint pens, etc.”

Shan Fannin
“Whenever I have acrylic paint left over on my palettes, I scrape it into a very large jar. I add some Golden GAC 100 to keep it all wet/smooth and mix it together. It becomes My Gray. I then reuse that paint as a base layer for future works. As for packaging, I save all my air pillows, bubble wrap, sturdy boxes, and tubes I receive from Amazon, my printer, and other deliveries. I reuse all of it to ship to galleries, exhibitions, and clients.”

This article “Eco-Conscious Artists and The Materials They Use” is part of our ongoing series devoted to Eco-Art and Eco-Artists.

You may also want to read What is Environmental Art?

Resources
Eco-Products 
“We are not a disposable products company trying to act green. We’re a green company who happens to operate in disposables. Sustainable disposables sound like an oxymoron, but we live in a consumer culture where disposable products are ubiquitous. And they aren’t going away anytime soon. We see this as an incredible opportunity to help change the world—and more importantly, each of the local communities we serve—by making sustainable disposable products that shift an industry.”

Natural Art Supplies
“At Natural Art Supplies, we conduct business a little bit differently as we go out of our way to source art products and curate a collection that does as little harm as possible to people, communities, and the environment. All of the products we represent are natural, organic, green, fair trade, eco-friendly, and or carry a social mission. Each product carries a story, of the artisan who lovingly created it, where the materials originated, or the centuries-old methods used to produce it. We invite you to browse naturalartsupplies.com and learn more about the story behind each product we carry.