recycled and sustainable art filter

May 5, 2021 1:05 AM

I'm planning to open a gallery showing sustainable art, that is art made primarily or entirely of recycled materials and/or natural materials. I'm open to all materials, genres, themes and flavors of art and am looking for your favorites artists working sustainably? Please add links to websites if possible.

All recommendations for artists working sustainably using recycled or natural materials are great. I'm somewhat interested in environmental themes but it's not essential. Please add links to a website if possible! Thanks!

posted by beckish to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

I saw one of Giuseppe Penone's Trees over a decade ago at the Tate Modern and it still gnaws at my brain every so often. He reclaimed a tree from an industrial building product. Neat.
posted by phunniemee at 4:13 AM on May 5, 2021

Check out nomadmfa.org - (my own graduate program but linking for other artists including the program director). I don't do what you're looking for but a lot of people involved do. Also ecoartspace has many members who work with recycled and natural materials. How broadly are you interested? Social practice? performance? Land/farming based work? Listing below starting with some very well known artists. Also question of location ?

Cecilia Vicuna
Mary Mattingly
Mark Dion
Christy Gast
Carol Padberg
Sto Len
Kate Dodd
posted by leslies at 5:50 AM on May 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

Dotun Popoola is a sculptor who works with scrap metal. He makes hybrid sculptures of animals and other naturalistic shapes as commentary against waste and environmental destruction.
posted by assenav at 9:04 AM on May 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

You've painted quite a wide swath of potential artists! I'd recommend using Instagram as a potential filter. I find that many artists have a presence there, and their hashtags will help. Keep in mind that some art materials are already infinitely recyclable, like gold, for example; so artists in that field will already be 'sustainable'.

#sustainableart
#environmentalart
#sustainableartist

Check out Sandra Wilson, who is recovering metal from e-waste.

NoWa is creating jewelry from old cell phones.

#urbanmining is a term for this method of finding and re-using such waste.
posted by hydra77 at 10:30 AM on May 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

Sarah Nicole Phillips, art from recycled security envelopes
posted by paradeofblimps at 10:44 AM on May 5, 2021 [2 favorites]

I make art primarily out of reused materials. My website is Puzzling Art. I've presented the jigsaw puzzle art under a previous profile, but haven't gotten around to the old books and items doing in books project yet.
posted by blueberry monster at 9:55 AM on June 29, 2021 [1 favorite]