Friday, April 22, 2011

Earth Day for Artists, Art Centers, and Galleries -- Top 5 Eco-Friendly Products and Services


Earth Day is one of my favorite holidays, to use the term loosely. The celebration of life, nature, humanity -- all that makes our planet so beautiful and valuable. Like most other holidays, there has been a growing subconscious effort to commercialize the day and profit from it. While today I'm sure you'll be bombarded with various emails advertising earth-friendly products or events, I hope this blog post will provide a slant pertinent to the lives of artists and art professionals -- how to be less wasteful, cleaner, and natural in the studio, at the gallery, and in the classroom. Here's a list of various things you can implement as you consider the earth and our interactions with her.

Top 5 Earth Day Recommends for Art Professionals:

1. Roma Frames - providing earth-conscious framing products made of sustainable and renewable sources

2. Hahnemuhle Bamboo Paper - perfect eco-friendly paper for sketching, watercolor, and fine art prints - request it from your giclee printer, or available in a pad from Dick Blick Art Supplies

3. ProPay - charge your customers' credit/debit card and send them an email receipt instead of printing a paper copy, also offers micro-reader options for easy use at festivals, etc.


4. Entry Thingy - accept online submissions from artists for your art festival, exhibition, annual call for artists, or juried competition (Gallery Thingy, the sister of Entry Thingy, is also a useful tool for displaying/selling art online)

5. Marvelous Marianne's Savvy Soap - comes in both a hand and brush cleaner, available from Daniel Smith Art Supplies (20% discount if clicking this link!)