art

Why you shouldn’t recycle that bright-orange paper

One of the thorniest questions I used to get as a recycling educator for the awesome grassroots recycling company EcoCycle in Boulder, Colo., was why ‘astrobright’ papers weren’t recyclable. You know this stuff: the super-dyed paper used by everyone from bands to Girl Scouts to make posters announcing their bake sales and death-metal guitar battles. […]

Behind the scenes at Fortune Brainstorm Green 2009

What’s better than attending the Fortune Brainstorm Green 2009 and hearing Ford Chairman Bill Ford and Founder and CEO of A Better Place Shai Agassi speak? Shaking hands with Former President Bill Clinton, of course!  Not too shabby for a couple of days in Orange County.  Beyond the speakers and the networking, the artistic angle […]

Two Seattle film fests focus on green themes

Photo: m kasahara via Flickr.Sitting in a movie theater staring at a series of images flashing on the big screen in front of you may not seem like the most ecofriendly of activities this Earth Day weekend. But what if that film moves you in such a way that you change your daily habits? Two […]

Trash becomes treasure at Seattle fashion show

Photo: Doug BulgerFrugal is fashionable in this economy, and the creative minds behind Haute Trash have discovered the cheapest (and chicest) way to dress in a depression is to put junk on your trunk. From pop-top chain mail to yogurt-cup lids, any dumpster-dive find can become a design inspiration. See all the fab runway garb(age) […]

Art exhibit highlights ecofriendly, recycled media

You may associate the phrase “leave no trace” with efforts to keep hikers from making their mark on nature, but a group of Seattle artists are co-opting the idea for their work with ecofriendly or recycled media. “Created in response to the overwhelmingly chemical and wasteful state of art products around the world,” the No […]

Images of an evolving world by artist Don Simon

These images are from a series of drawings titled “Unnaturalism” by artist Don Simon. His work examines the impact of industrialization and sprawl on ecosystems. From his artist statement: “Throughout history, particularly since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, mankind has been less than kind to our cohabitants on the planet. We build, produce, and […]

Art and environment panel discusses price of public art

I was staring out the window at the Olympic Sculpture Park's beautiful landscape when, about 30 minutes into a panel discussion about art and the environment, moderator Lucia Athens finally mentioned the elephant in the room -- or rather, the sacred cow.

It came in the form of a question thrown out to the panelists -- architect Tom Kundig, style expert Rebecca Luke, and artist Roy McMakin -- about a new bill that would cut the money funneled to public art projects (about one-half of one percent of state building funds). Proposed by Washington Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens), who has said he considers public art to be a "sacred cow that should be put out to pasture," the bill would save the state $5 million in the next budget.

"Absurd" was Kundig's response. Stand back and look at the proportion, he advised; this bill doesn't look at the big picture of how much money is put toward other, more wasteful projects.

It's not just about the money, McMakin said. Public art is about culture, and it's about jobs. "Art is woven into the culture of the built environment around us."

Why should you care about this public art battle?

ReadyMade: Depression posters for today

ReadyMade asked a group of graphic designers to "reimagine the populist poster art of the first Great Depression." The results are cool, and a couple of them are greenish, like this one from Nick Dewar:

Can teaching art to future scientists help save the planet?

A special report from Gainesville, Florida. Robert Ponzio, art instructor and chair of the Fine Arts Department at Oak Hall School took to the skies Sunday above Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in a specially modified, G-FORCE ONE aircraft. Working in a near weightless environment traditionally reserved for astronaut training and scientific experimentation, Ponzio hopes to […]