Hello everyone! Hope you’ve all had a wonderful week! This week I wanted to share a bit about one of our recently finished Converge Connected courses.
The Art and the Environment course was an online course run by our art tutor, Sylkie. The course explored ways that art can be used to explore nature and ways that we can protect our planet and use waste materials creatively. Every week we were inspired by a new artist using materials such as cardboard, plastic, natural waste and paper to create beautiful and sustainable artworks.
Here are some examples!
Collage artist Derek Gores creates bold and beautiful collages from torn up magazines.British sculptor Chris Gilmour creates super accurate, intricate models like this bike, using only cardboard!Khalil Chistee creates these surreal and haunting sculptures using plastic bags. My personal favourite, Rebecca Louise Law, creates beautiful installations by suspending dried flowers that would otherwise be thrown away!
Each week, inspired by these amazing artists and the the new found potential of materials all around us, we were challenged to create art works of our own. Here are a few examples from students!….
The power of art and creativity to make a difference is so often underestimated. The Art and the Environment course has shown it’s students that art can practically help our world by reducing waste, whilst also celebrating the beauty of nature and inspiring others to see and treasure our world and the materials around us! The beauty of it is that the materials aren’t expensive products in a shelf in an art shop, they are all around us if we are looking for them. Whether you were part of the course or not, I hope this little taster will also inspire you to think before you put that plastic packaging in the bin or throw out those magazines!