Over the past couple of years, I've been thinking more and more about my carbon footprint and my impact on the environment. As an artist it wasn't really a topic that came up while I was in school studying art. In fact, it seemed as though we were always told to make "more" or make it "bigger". But what about all the waste that comes with making these decisions as an artist?
Let's say you're shopping at the art supply store and you come across paint. You see a colour that makes you want to cry because it's so beautiful! You look further on and find one, no, two more colours of paint that you just have to have. Oh! and don't forget that special pen that you already have three of, and another sketchbook (even though you've got another blank one sitting at home, but it's not the one you've been waiting for to go on sale!). I'm sure you get my point, artists are guilty to falling trap to a constant consumption of art supplies, and most of the time it's totally unnecessary.
I am now more aware of the amount waste I've been producing within my art practice as well as in my daily life. I've been inspired through intensive internet research, looking at bloggers and other social media influencers, such as Lauren Singer (Trash is for Tossers) and Bea Johnson (Zero Waste Home). They are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to everything I've been reading, but they are the ones who inspired me to start on this journey of minimalism and zero waste.
Zero Waste! Minimalism! But how is that even possible as an artist?! Well I'm not literally going to produce zero waste, but my goal is to decrease my waste/trash going to the landfill, by at least 50%. One of the ways I will be doing this is by limiting my art budget for the year of 2018 to $100. That's right, $100! To give you an idea of how big of a goal this really is, I'll be straight up with you and tell you that in the year 2017, I spent around $1500 if not more on my art. Granted I was a student, completing my MFA, with a little help from scholarship and bursary funding, but believe me when I say that $100 is a huge stretch for an art budget!
Even though an annual budget of $100 for my art practice might seem outrageous and impossible, I'm ready prove that it's achievable! The thing is, there are ways to get by without spending any money at all, I just need to be a little more resourceful.
First off, I already have a large selection of supplies which I have accumulated over my many years as an artist. Second, I can find a lot of useful things on Craigslist, flea markets, and thrift stores. So far this year, I've spend $19, which included a flea market find of over 230 skeins of embroidery floss and about 3-4 skeins of yarn. Third, things can be re-used, repurposed, and re-invented, after all aren't artists supposed to be creative? Who says I can't make art from things I already have!
I've got a long list of project ideas and no where near enough to work on them! I'm currently working on a cross-stitched portrait of Yayoi Kusama, which I am submitting to a juried exhibition titled "Celebration of Herstory". The show is a celebration around International Women's Day, March 8. I'd like to create several more cross-stitched portraits of women artists that'll become part of a larger series/body of work. I also have plans to re-purpose many of my old painting into a body of work that relies on an pre-established pattern/instructions. To give you a hint, it'll be a paint by numbers sort of approach to painting with a cross-over into quilting. I also have plans of further exploring projects from my thesis and possibly experimenting with more animation and video work. All of these projects use very little materials, therefore the waste that they will produce will be very minimal. That's the goal, create lots, but produce as little as possible!