My motto as an artist is to create wearable art that is Sustainable Australian Wearable Art.
Oh and its going to be a hard journey cause as usual I have challanged myself, both aspects are broad and will I ever be saticfied or a 100% true to my motto?
The answer is No not 100% its going to take a long time for all of us to be 100% Sustainable. But the first steps pave the road to our next genrations I guess. I am happy to hit 80% of it before I leave this world.
Since my 2 aspects Sustainable and Australian are broad and complex I will introduce them one at a time.
Today I will talk about sustainable and hope this introduction will prompt you to take it further.
Sustainable design (also called
environmental design, environmentally sustainable design, environmentally conscious design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of
economic,
social, and
ecological sustainability.
What does that mean to me a Visual Artist and a Jewellery designer? Before I answer this question let me first introduce you to the
Bill of Rights to the Planet.
We all know the Charter of Human Rights or at least what it involves but do we ever think Planet Rights? We recycle because we want to or because we have to? Some of us are really concerned about the Planet but lets be realistic some of us simply don,t care. The Bill of Rights for the Planet was introduced by William McDonough Architects during Expo 2000 in Hannover Germany.
The Bill of Rights:
- Insist on the right of humanity and nature to co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse, and sustainable condition.
- Recognize Interdependence. The elements of human design interact with and depend on the natural world, with broad and diverse implications at every scale. Expand design considerations to recognizing even distant effects.
- Respect relationships between spirit and matter. Consider all aspects of human settlement including community, dwelling, industry, and trade in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material consciousness.
- Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems, and their right to co-exist.
- Create safe objects of long-term value. Do not burden future generations with requirements for maintenance or vigilant administration of potential danger due to the careless creations of products, processes, or standards.
- Eliminate the concept of waste. Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes, to approach the state of natural systems in which there is no waste.
- Rely on natural energy flows. Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate this energy efficiently and safely for responsible use.
- Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not an inconvenience to be evaded or controlled.
- Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge. Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and re-establish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.
For a Visual Artist it could simply mean UP CYCLING. Oh another expression to explore.
Up-cycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.
Simply for me it is to use beads from an old necklace in an OP Shop or the back pin of a broken piece of jewellery to make a new one. Or using wool from old jumpers.
My studio is set outdoors to save on energy. The possibilities are endless.
In conclusion nature has much to offer us and we have a duty towards our Planet, so if you think this is hard well let me as you this, if the ancient Egyptians and Natives Indians could create such amazing pieces of wearable art why can't you?
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