Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Color of Art is "Green"

Sharon Burns ASID, CID
Art Consultants + Design
ASID Eco Committe Member

As Designers, let’s think about selecting “green art” in our next projects. You know I’m not talking about the color green (although colors of green are beautiful as well), but sustainable art! There are so many creative ways to bring eco-friendly art into your client’s home or business….just think outside of the toxic landfill box! Here are some helpful suggestions:

• When working with your framer, ask to use acid-free adhesives & glues. Ask if or request that they recycle glass, matboard, and moldings.

• Select frame moldings that are manufactured with earth-friendly practices such as Nurre Caxton’s EcoCare-Blackwood at http://www.nurrecaxton.com/ which uses water-based stains. Almost all frame molding companies have sustainable frames to select from.

• Specify matboards that are 100% renewable rag cotton or recycled fiber.

• Choose graphic artists and printmakers that are developing and using non-toxic, non-polluting new methods that are safer and healthier.

• Select artists who use scrap metal and discarded industrial waste or ordinary junk to design creative new forms of art; the results are stunning to say the least!

• Choose enamellers and ceramic artists using non-toxic and sustainable methods & pigments.

• Select tapestry and fiber art makers who use natural fibers and ecological themes, or other artists who create installations of environmental interest.

• Choose painters and sculptors who use organic, natural, sustainable, recycled materials, digital methods, and no chemical solvents.

• Seek out crafts-artists working with natural and organic materials.

• Specify photography exploring the natural and social environment.

• To light your art, select warm white LED picture lights such as those found at House of Troy http://www.houseoftroy.com/
Enjoy working with the thought of providing ‘green’ art. Do something artistically innovative to help our big blue planet!

For more information, please contact:

Sharon Burns ASID, CID
Art Consultants + Design
http://www.artconsultantsdesign.com/
5580 La Jolla Blvd. #428
La Jolla, CA 92037