Visual Arts programmes encounter sustainability issues in a very wide spectrum. The visual arts have a major role to play in the ways in which communities operate. The experience of art is one of validation and critique, celebration and mourning. The wider contextualisation of art in the programme ensures that students understand the ways in which their work both cements and critiques the social order.

On a more practical level, the pragmatics of healthy and viable art practices have led to the gradual movement from toxic to non-toxic materials in all subject areas and the development of understandings of the correct use and disposal of chemicals and other waste materials. Artworks may be designed to endure for a long time and consideration is given to the ways in which they are made and conserved. Other artworks are necessarily temporary in nature and consideration must be given also to the question of the disposal and re-use of the material used in their construction. The developing visual arts industry in the field of the digital arts has also led to an increased awareness of how communities are created and maintained in the digital environment and the sustainability of the digital infrastructure.

Issues of sustainability are integrated into supervision, feedback, recommended reference material and the theoretical and practical framing of research projects.

All staff members in the School of Art are aware and proactive concerning sustainability issues. Artists and arts enquirers within the contemporary sphere are arguably more attentive to these issues than most other groups of teachers in tertiary environments. Reasons for this vary from the critical role of the artist in contemporary society today to the need to protect oneself and students from toxic substances in the studio. The current focus on sustainability at Otago Polytechnic provides an opportunity to scope the field of focus within the School of Art programmes. Through this process, it has become clear that this focus encompasses a wide range of concerns, from everyday vigilance on a practical level to the embeddedness of socio-political criticality within teaching, learning and research.

The School of Art at Otago Polytechnic maintains a regular programme of public seminars, lectures and workshops within which the principles concerning sustainability find direct focus. The seminars, lectures and workshops on art practices foreground these and topical issues, reinforcing the student's developing understanding of her or his place in the continuum of contemporary visual art in relation to sustainability.

 

 

BACHELOR OF VISUAL ARTS  and MASTER OF FINE ARTS

The graduate profile includes an understanding of the role artists play in sustaining the cultural and spiritual life of the community and its cultures, and the pragmatic elements of the philosophy of sustainability in issues of care and conservation of resources and health and safety.
"Graduates will have an understanding of the principles of sustainability. They will be able to evaluate the relative value of their work in relation to its socio-economic contexts and the ways in which it supports the social fabric and will recognise strategies for mitigating environmental and social harm in the conceptualisation and creation of their artworks and their practice as a whole."

The graduate profile includes an understanding of the role artists play in sustaining the cultural and spiritual life of the community and its cultures, and the pragmatic elements of the philosophy of sustainability in issues of care and conservation of resources and health and safety.

Seminars and lectures on public art practices foreground these issues and reinforce the student’s developing understanding of her or his place in the continuum of contemporary visual art.

In the print studio I'm concerned that students value and look after their work and study environment. We have renovated the pond in the garden outside the print studio and we have developed projects with the 3rd years to design, produce (screen printing) and install wallpaper in the print studio corridors to upgrade the interior design of the building whilst providing a practical and professionally relevant project for students to engage with. Also through a rostered program students are taught how to maintain and care for the workshop and its various facilities on a weekly basis.
  - Neil Emmerson, Academic Leader, Printmaking

 

 
In textiles we are using recycled materials in the first stage block. While originally intended as a creative starting point, this is also the starting point about sustainability of resources and the carbon footprint. During the last years students have increasingly addressed issues around this subject matter in their projects. In textiles print class student learn about the safe use of chemicals and how chemicals are discarded in a safer way and which chemicals need to be collected for garbage collection by professional companies. The discussion also becomes a factor in decision making by the students of their choice of studio practice.
We are presently looking at options for growing dyeing plants and ecological ways to embellish textiles.
  - Christine Keller, Academic Leader, Textiles

 
The increasing awareness of students is developed through discussions that run through the program on all levels. New technical developments in the textile material sector are introduced and choices about natural versus man made materials are based on updated information.

The principles concerning sustainability find direct focus within our programmes through attention to the following issues:
• Avoidance of toxic materials
• Responsible disposal of materials
• Use of chemical free techniques such as solar-plated etching
• Recycling of materials e.g. through use of ‘free box' where unwanted items are donated for students to re/use in creation of art-works.
• Working small scale
• Working incrementally
• Transportability of work
• Building support networks to sustain practices long-term
• Working collaboratively to support practices long-term
• Understanding bi-cultural and multi-cultural issues
• Engaging with environmental issues through specific projects

Within the MFA Programme recent research projects focusing on sustainability issues include:

Jo Woolley, Vanishing Ice, focused on the sustainability of glaciers in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Roka Hurihia, Toku Haerenga, focused on Maori values and the use of resources in arts practice today.

Kirsten Koch, Bead My Amoeba, recycling project used waste materials to argue for the aesthetic translation of rubbish materials.

 

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