Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Art, Fashion & Design >

Ethical Art Supplies

22:08 / 17.11.07

I've been thinking about the ethical implications of art supplies... and wondering how to find out if an art supplier is ethical. And if the mainstream ones aren't, where would I find one that was.

This, of course, raises the issues of what is ethical... so far my thoughts on the matter have raised a few questions;

1. Animal hair brushes - What conditions are the animals kept under? How is the hair collected? From an animal rights perspective, it is presumably much better to use synthetic brushes...

2. So, synthetic hair brushes - What is the process used to make these? What environmental impact do these processes have?

3. Can you get recycled artists quality paper? What is the impact of the bleach used in making paper white? Is there a different process involved? What about paper made from hemp?

4. Are canvasses ever made from fair-trade cotton? Do the chemicals used to coat them have a negative environmental impact?

5. Paints - where do the pigments come from? If mineral, are they ethically mined or do they tend to come from places/sites where the surrounding habitat is destroyed? If chemical, again, environmental impact of the processes involved?

6. Wood - Are paintbrushes ever made with sustainable wood? Easels? etc etc...

I've only really started thinking about this the past couple of days, and I'm going to look for answers online over the next few days. Any thoughts or pointers would be wonderful... I thought it might bring up interesting discussion, hence the thread. Sorry I haven't much detail yet, and for the brevity, it is past my bedtime.

09:16 / 18.11.07

It's a very interesting issue and one I hadn't even contemplated despite frequently buying sable brushes. I can't believe I hadn't thought about where the sable was coming from, I feel foolish. I think I should go and look it all up, too.

09:25 / 18.11.07

I found a bit on Animalethics.org about how they catch the Kolinsky sables, which is of course all obviously horrific. So from an animal welfare point of view it's clearly better to buy synthetic. However, as you say this then leads to considering the outcomes for the environment in the production of synthetic brushes.

Animalethics.org link Scroll down to 'brushes'.

I feel like such a tool for never having thought about any of this before. Blithely going along in my little bubble of recycling and ethical purchasing happiness, carrying an art box full of sable brushes and sketch pads of bleached paper.

16:02 / 18.11.07

Awesome thread, cheers for the thoughts.

Thinking about paint composition and chemical fate really does my head in. I was at a seminar last year given by an environmental microbiologist who was involved in bioremediation of land occupied by a paint factory and the toxicity there was shocking, well beyond anything we currently know how to make safe. The microbes are clever but it's still going to take a long time - centuries? And before that, most of the site they were discussing is going to have fallen into the river to be circulated across the continent - you could see it as positive that the pollutants will be diluted but no-one's really sure what level is safe or exactly what effects the chemicals will have.

09:13 / 19.11.07

great thread.

There's also the problem of turpentine and white spirit- the latter is especially problematic because of the sheer volume of the stuff any art school or studio pours down its sinks each year. I haven't looked into the ecological impact of that but i can't imagine it can be good.

is anyone aware of ecological alternatives to turps/white spirit? I know baby oil can clean oil paint from brushes but its an arduous process.

I have been working as a part of an arts commitee in an ethically minded community centre and these ethical problems have been coming up alot.

The key issue to me is where to place the value of the art being created- is it "worth" using 250 sheets of a4 paper to make a piece of work that lasts 2 days? must we first consider the value of that art to society before commissioning its creation and how can we begin to undertake that task?

certainly it seems, that to a certain extent, art is considered above these issues because it has an important, supposedly world changing effect. Is that true? apologies if that is derailing the thread- if so let's take it up elsewhere.

17:32 / 19.11.07

I'm just about to head out but I wanted to comment. Thanks for replies so far, they're just what I was after.
Olulabelle; Really like the site, cheers! I'm in a similar boat, hence the vague formulations of the thoughts! I mentioned it to a flatmate as well, she commented that the same was true of all the stationary we use as students... ethical ink-pens anyone?

apt plutology; Thinking about paint composition and chemical fate really does my head in.
any ideas about decent alternatives? This was precisely the thing I was wondering about, are all paint factories having this kind of impact?!

sideweyes; is anyone aware of ecological alternatives to turps/white spirit? I know baby oil can clean oil paint from brushes but its an arduous process.
I didn't know about baby oil... is that much better than turps? I recently started playing with oil paints but I prefer the water-mixable alternatives so I haven't really used turps etc. Having said that, I have no clue as to the make-up of these paints.

must we first consider the value of that art to society before commissioning its creation and how can we begin to undertake that task?

I don't think this is derailing, I think this is a very important question. Can anything be worth enough to society to balance out the ecological effects? And also, whose society is it helping? Where are the factories that make these things? Who does the mining/mixing/catching and shearing animals etc? Do we have art-supply-sweat-shops?

I tentatively put my self in the position that; it can't be worth enough to society for these pieces of art that they justify using materials that have such a negative effect, especially if there are alternatives. Although I do consider art to be very important to me as an individual and to society.

So many questions!

16:50 / 22.11.07

The general theme I'm finding with brushes is that synthetic hair brushes are just as good as animal hair brushes (decent quality ones of course) and don't involve the animal slaughter.

Some links;

Ecological Paints
Organic, solvent and animal free paints. Unfortunately these are for painting walls. I still can't find ecological artists paint.

Recycled Artists Paper
This site also does other recycled paper stationary. The range of artists paper is limited to 2 types of cartridge paper; drawing (118g/m2) and watercolour (160g/m2). Bleach free though!

If you want to read arguments for buying recycled paper click here.

05:23 / 23.11.07

I've not got anywhere with the details of paint ingredients. I think the worst kinds of paint are those used on cars and houses because of the extra adhesion factors and anti-fungals and so on. In my ideal world some artistically inclined chemist would put together a database of common pigments and solvents with the complete material safety data sheets! Although the environmental fate of a lot of chemicals is just not known yet, that would be a start.

I think the brushes thing is difficult - I think my ideal would be humane animal hair, wood and metal: at least those are biodegradable/reusable. Disposable plastic really offends me.

13:09 / 21.02.08

disposable plastic offends me

*shivers* I was just thinking that the idea of binning my brushes bothers me. As far as I work, brushes don't get binned, when they get worn down I plan to work them into new tools/projects.

I've been thinking and so far the only reasonably ethical art tool I can think of is a computer powered by solar panels (or another completely renewable resource)! And even then I guess the parts of the computer are problematic... especially in terms of disposal! On the other hand, most people on Barbelith presumably already have a computer, so it'd be using a tool already to hand for the purpose of art.

Green Eyed Frog apparently does a range of arts n crafts materials, mostly for children unfortunately, that is 'natural', but I'm not sure about exact ethics...

Green Eyed Frog

This site, Earth Pigments, looks amazing, they sell the pigments and supply recipes on-site for mixing up paints from artist's oils to emulsion. Only problem is they ship to Canada or USA only. Perhaps that is best, I probably shouldn't start learning to mix my own paints while I'm still learning to paint... one project at a time.

Earth Pigments

14:33 / 21.02.08

Ivory Black, now made from charred animal bones

So Ivory Black is probably not vegan, if that is an issue for anyone. That quote was found here, and there is a small amount of information basically saying that the best quality and most reliable paints are from chemically manufactured pigments... natural pigments, he says, simply don't tend to make paint that is as good a quality as is nowadays possible. (With the exceptions of Burst Sienna and Ivory Black, from what I can tell.)

On the other hand, a search for earth pigments in the UK has brought up several webpages of people who have made their own pigments from soil and rocks they collect themselves and make pretty pictures with them;

Mother Earth Prints

Di Pattison

Clea Blyth

And this sitehas pigments for sale, although they are supposed to be for wall paints. I think perhaps using the recipes from Earth Pigments (See above post) these pigments might make other paints as well?
I.E.K.O.

I'm seeing a gap in the market. I wonder why?

08:24 / 25.06.08

I don't know about the exact extent to which carmine from cochineal bugs is used in common art supplies nowadays, but if you have compassion for or feel disgust for tiny insects, it should be avoided.