Art is a powerful medium used for social commentary. Environmentalism is a theme duly present in this realm of critique, but when it becomes apparent that some of the most prominent artistic methods—painting and film photography, for example—can be detrimental to the Earth, the environmentally-conscious artist is presented with a dilemma. The artist must mitigate his or her creative impulses, vision and skill with personally/socially-derived concerns for the environment.
To see where the balance lies within this dilemma, I spoke to three Ottawa artists who bring their perspectives on sustainability and the environment to their work through the media they use to create art.
“I’m interested in the connection between art and life and moving beyond ‘the art object for art’s sake’” idea, says Jennifer Cook, an artist who creates useful things out of recycled materials and found objects. Her exhibit at the University of Ottawa Visual Arts graduate show this past April featured homemade shelves, vermiculture composting systems, jars of seeds and flower boxes growing different plants in a piece called “baby food.” “I’m really interested in learning about sustainability and self-sufficiency…and examining how things are made, the relationship between the materials used in that object to its effects on the Earth, and knowing where it comes from, understanding how it’s made and trying to learn if I can do that myself,” says Cook. “I think it’s really empowering when you can learn how something is made and make it yourself, grow things yourself, feed yourself.” Her work is seemingly a reaction to mass consumer culture, a culture that not only creates copious amounts of waste but alienates people from their connection to what is produced and how it affects the Earth.
Ariane Beauchamp is an artist whose work also harkens to a connection with nature and more “traditional” values and practices. Many of her recent pieces, also on exhibit at the University of Ottawa graduate show, feature birds, immediately evoking a natural theme. These birds are also part of her memories of a childhood far-removed from city life. She depicts them through stitching hand-dyed yarn and thread and even human hair onto untreated canvas. She also has embraced object-making with reclaimed textiles and found materials. Part of Beauchamp’s exhibit highlighted the theme of memory by having jars containing objects preserved through pickling. Beauchamp tries to bring traditional practices to contemporary art to inspire a way of living that’s not in practice anymore. Another piece in her exhibit was a collaborative effort between her and Cook; they’d retrieved a chair from the trash and altered it into their own artistic design. Beauchamp says that this piece “comments on trash and how we can use materials, like this beautiful composite foam.” Indeed, without this piece, the speckled, brightly-coloured foam would have continued its existence in a landfill. “Art, for me, is a means to question our living and environment. It’s a perfect platform to discuss it,” says Beauchamp.
Stefan Thompson’s art has undergone a radical transformation over the past year as he attempts to eliminate the toxic and degrading effects that paint, his medium of choice, has on the environment. As a 
graduate of Environmental Science, Thompson was exposed to the many ways in which the creation and use of paint can be harmful: mining for pigments, exposure to toxic fumes, leaching of chemicals into the ground and water systems. “A couple of years ago I just decided that I couldn’t have any part in the current destruction of the planet with my art… I couldn’t really create art peacefully if I knew that I was being a part of the problem,” explains Thompson. This has meant an extreme shift in his work. His website provides a detailed account of the process of making one’s own paint and the many facets of toxicity that are not immediately apparent to the average consumer, or average artist, for that matter.
Formerly characterized by vibrant colours and spray paint, Thompson’s palette now consists of more reds, browns, yellows, and grays—colours that are easier to make, essential for his new environmentally-conscious approach. Realizing the challenges and limitations his art faces following this shift, Thompson accepts that this is not a decision every artist can make: “It’s too much to ask of most artists because it’s their livelihood and you’re really asking them to make major changes in how they make their livelihood and that’s hard for anybody to do.” He adds, “I think that’s the larger issue right now. Everybody’s livelihood is part of the destruction and no one is willing to make that change… I guess everybody tries to do what they can, but there’s a lot more we can do if we just jump into it.”
Thompson continues to adapt to the change he has thrust upon his creativity, improves upon his art and with each image, reminds us that those radical changes, as daunting as they seem, are still possible.
[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]by Emily Jeffers. © 2008, Emily Jeffers
