Ethical Approach
Here are some of the things I do to try to work ethically:
Pollution-
Waste less- use more of what you have.
Dispose of waste well.
Buy FSC-rated mouldings, insist that your framers use fsc wood.
Source well- avoid the dodgy, and try to get things that don't need vast amounts of travel.
Think about who you align yourself to- sponsors, etc.
Buy local- support local providers, use your local art shops- and of course, buy original, hand-made work from local artists!
Use good quality materials.
Don't do drugs :)- no, seriously!- I'm grateful I never have- but, as well as destroying life for the user, they often have massive human and environmental cost in their production.
Think about what you do.
Ask questions of art-material companies- sooner or later the spotlight will hit them- get them to source gum arabic that isn't from a conflict zone, and cobalt blue that isn't from dodgy mining- it's all possible.
Remember, avoiding one problem can open up another if you're only looking to tick boxes.
Tom Dec 2023
Pollution-
- I don't drive, so walk, bike or get trains to drawing destinations. I do get lifts to take pictures to exhibitions, of course.
- I use my painting water to do washes or backgrounds for pastels with, so I collect it up and don't just pour it away.
- I try to buy British-made products, or failing-that, European ones.
- I don't have any slaves. I didn't buy any cobalt blue for many years, because I didn't want to be using pigment that was associated with slavery or environmental destruction- as can be the case in the DRC. I have been assured that Michael Harding source their cobalt ethically, and use that.
- There are some countries that I avoid buying materials from- those I consider to have human rights issues.
- I get most of my art gear, paper, mountboard, pens, etc, from my local art shop and do not use the big out-of-town superstores or buy art gear in supermarkets. I get my glass from a shop just down the road. Of course, you can't buy everything you need, locally, so I buy some things online, too- but I try to go local, first.
- I mostly use conservation materials that will hopefully last longer than standard ones- including mountboard, my usual backing-board, etc.
- If buying wood mouldings for making my own frames, as I normally do, I only buy fsc graded wood. I do nearly all my own framing, but where a gallery selling my work wants to do the framing, I request fsc wood. I also buy some vintage 2nd-hand frames, repaint and usually rebuild them, and these have no rating, but in re-using the wood, I am hopefully doing something right.
- As well as using old painting water, and using the dust at the bottom of the pastel boxes in washes, I use imperfect pieces of mountboard as drypoint printing plate, and compost the rest. I also use pieces as picture labels instead of foamboard,
- I have also avoided using facilities, such as life drawing, or going to art events at Arts University, Bournemouth or Bournemouth University, because of what I understand to be their interest in the "development" of Highmoor Farm and the threat this poses to the adjacent Talbot Heath nature reserve and SSSI with breeding nightjar, dartford warbler, linnet; endangered reptiles, etc. Please visit the Preserve Talbot Heath Facebook page, for more information.
- There are a number of issues and organisations that I will not support and will not do work that favours or promotes. I will not just make art to order. It involves a large part of who I am, and I will not take on a commission or put myself forwards to do something that violates my conscience or which I am not aligned to, even if I have nothing particular against it.
Waste less- use more of what you have.
Dispose of waste well.
Buy FSC-rated mouldings, insist that your framers use fsc wood.
Source well- avoid the dodgy, and try to get things that don't need vast amounts of travel.
Think about who you align yourself to- sponsors, etc.
Buy local- support local providers, use your local art shops- and of course, buy original, hand-made work from local artists!
Use good quality materials.
Don't do drugs :)- no, seriously!- I'm grateful I never have- but, as well as destroying life for the user, they often have massive human and environmental cost in their production.
Think about what you do.
Ask questions of art-material companies- sooner or later the spotlight will hit them- get them to source gum arabic that isn't from a conflict zone, and cobalt blue that isn't from dodgy mining- it's all possible.
Remember, avoiding one problem can open up another if you're only looking to tick boxes.
Tom Dec 2023