Eco Art or Econological Art: It's an up and coming trend around the world involving artists who use their talents for environmental sustainability. These artists have been called hippies, environmentalists, tree-huggers... you name it. Whether they are concerned with local and global environmental situations, bridging art with our natural resources, or connecting creativity with every-day-objects, one thing is for sure: Calgary is a place with some awe-inspiring talent in this field.
What exactly is Eco Art? Jeff Faye, a local artist committed to debunking the myth that Eco Art is limited to, "a bunch of hippies making jewellery from old pop cans" describes Eco Art as, "a very broad term that can contain everything from foundry and metal work to paper and book arts". Liliana Barbosa, another Eco Artist in Calgary, uses the name Ecorations to define her work, a combination of the terms: "ecology" and "decoration". Or in the words of Eco Artist Tawnya Glover, it is an art that is "almost nostalgic... but always inventive" and tends to elicit strong emotional reactions by viewers when they first see original materials they have a connection with displayed in art pieces.
Some Eco Artists get their inspiration from the joy of producing environmentally sustainable products, while others enjoy the challenge of finding unique ways to incorporate used objects into their artwork. Jeff finds his motivation by looking at ordinary things and working through their constraints. He was originally inspired as a child from his father, who found clever solutions to everyday problems using common objects, like inflating a flat basketball with the pneumatic stopper from a screen door. Ever since then he has been building art with everyday objects that people no longer want.
Jeff chooses to create Eco Art not just to keep landfills empty but to, "mimic nature in that nothing serves only one purpose". Liliana is inspired by the impact her artwork has on future generations. She holds art classes with children, "the future leaders of the world", to teach them about the importance of reusing, reducing, and recycling. Tawnya is conscious about her impact as an artist on the environment. She describes how she found her path as an Eco Artist: "after noticing how many supplies I was purchasing to create my artwork, I began to rethink my methods".
The types of materials that can be used to create Eco Art are endless. Jeff finds sheer joy in digging something out of a scrap pile from the dump, a junk store, or garage sale and letting his imagination run with it. By seeing potential in everything, he has made unique art and furniture. To name a few, Jeff makes things like household lights out of old-fashioned blenders or lanterns and chairs out of discarded suitcases. Liliana works mostly with paper, which she describes as: "one of the main sources of the waste generated by humans". Tawnya uses water-based paints, makes pigments from nature, or simply applies items to her art that would otherwise end up in a landfill. She chooses artist materials that are environmentally friendly, recycled, or re-used.
Is Calgary a city receptive to this new kind of art?
Artist Jeff Faye describes Calgarians as: "welcoming and enthusiastic". He goes on to mention, "instead of being jaded by performance art on every corner, paintings on every wall and plays in every park, Calgarians, for the large part seem genuinely curious and interested in what artists are doing. It's pretty cool". Liliana agrees, mentioning "I have had pretty positive feedback... particularly now that the green movement has grown stronger and more people are interested in finding alternatives to care for the environment".
© REAP 2011
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