Last night an earthquake rattled the bones of this old house and set off the car alarms in the street. For a moment, I visualised my whole world tumbling into the knot of fault lines that sits below the greater Seattle area, but thankfully the tiny nudge of the tectonic plate didn’t set off a subterrestrial game of dominos.
Living in an earthquake zone, we get used to these occasional tremors. After larger shocks, I check the Seattle disaster plan website, stock up on water, and make sure the pantry has at least two weeks’ worth of food supplies. Last night I comforted myself by remembering that this old house was built in 1945 and has therefore survived several large earthquakes, but having the ground shake beneath my feet was a reminder of how fragile human existence is. I like to cheer you up on a Monday :)
We may not all live in an earthquake zone but we all live on a struggling planet and receive regular reminders of the fragility of life on earth. For some artists, the knowledge of that frailty pushes them into pursuing sustainable ways of creating: eco-art, ephemeral art, and land art.
I dropped the moniker “eco-artist” a while back - the reasons are many, complicated, and nuanced - but I’ve recently felt a call to re-visit the notion of an eco-studio and figure out what that would mean in my new location. Full disclosure, I am being forced to abandon acrylic paints as my new home sits on very old, delicate sewer pipes that can only accept water and the most soluble toilet paper in the world (thanks to the YouTubers who carry out experiments to find the fastest dissolving toilet paper!) I have clogged many a pipe in the past with dried acrylic paint and felting experiments but sadly those days are over now.
If you feel the call towards a more sustainable practice, or you want to show your sewer system some love, here are five books I return to all the time for guidance. Click the title links to see full information on goodreads.
Colours from Nature, A Dyer’s Handbook, by Jenny Dean
Over the last few years, a plethora of coffee table books about natural dyes have been published but I often find them heavy on pretty photos and light on content. I always go back to one of the seminal educational books like this one, or if you fancy growing a dye garden, Rita Buchanan’s A Dyer’s Garden is a good one. And remember dyes can be used on paper too, not just cloth.
Modern Nature, The Journals of Derek Jarman 1989-1990
Renowned artist Andrew Salgado recommended this book as a must-read for all artists and I love it. This is the book I return to when I need a reminder of the beauty of slowing down and reconnecting with nature. It is, as the blurb says, “a devotion to all that is living.”
Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers, by Leonard Koren
A quick, beautiful read. This book snaps me out of believing I need to make perfect, archival-quality art and reminds me of the impermanence of all life on Earth, including me, and my art. It’s a good book to read if you need emotional support in pivoting your practice or business.
The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, by Thomas Berry
This book was a thrift store find and oh my, it’s one of the most profound and hopeful books I’ve read. This is a book to read if you need reminding that there’s a bigger reason to be sustainable than the benefits to yourself and your art practice; that the work of sustainability is noble and the most important you will ever perform; that humans should and can be a benign presence on this planet. A powerful, transformative read.
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, by adrienne maree brown
Creating sustainably isn’t just about using eco-friendly materials, reducing water consumption, or avoiding petroleum-derived products, it’s also about being in right relationship with each other. And the only author to read on that topic is adrienne maree brown. This book “is radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help.” It is an absolute must-read
if you are building a community, a business, a non-profit.
Above…
Me, realising that giving up my car or iPhone makes a more positive environmental impact than making eco-art. (Reason #1 why I stopped calling myself an eco-artist.)
It was tough to narrow down my huge library of books on sustainability to only five suggestions. Maybe I should create a library somewhere here on Substack? Would that be of benefit to you?
If you’re an artist, I’m really interested in how you engage with sustainability issues within your art practice. Is there a book you recommend I read? Hit reply to this email to send me a private response or if you read in the Substack app/website, you can add a comment below this post.
Here’s to fewer earthquakes and more slow art!
Until next time.
JC x
I know you all REALLY want to read about earthquake prep!
An interesting talk from Art Basel - click to be taken to YouTube to watch the video
I wonder ....if we stopped making acrylic paint, how much impact that would have on reducing the use of fossil fuel. There are lots of unnecessary big users of fossil fuel like polyester fabric (I'm not saying we don't need some, but certainly not the volumes we currently produce)
Then we could carry on driving our cars, where public transport isn't accessible?
I save my sewer pipes by washing brushes and emptying paint water into a bowl which then goes into a two bucket system outside. I wash my hands there too (although I give them a second wash when I come back into the house). I did a YouTube video on it. https://youtu.be/25C3NjSabuE?si=obYX1_zQXNxPViED