Sustainable Art in the Classroom

Sustainable Art. What does that even mean? In my classroom we seek to explore that idea through the use of recycled materials and items found in our own backyards. We do a lot of the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in our daily creations. Even our paper becomes a part of the cycle of sustainability. We strive to make our own paper at least 2-3 times a month out of old homework, leaves, flowers, and old drawing paper. We make our clay in the kitchen, which in turn is more affordable and is easier to get ahold of. We focus a lot on nature and our preservation of it. We strive to making a positive change in our communities. We set up our own shop fronts during Camp Days to learn the importance of creation, trade, consignment, and business.

We go through a lot of recyclables in my classroom. Some sources I go to for these recyclables are my local coffee shop and restaurants. I am lucky. Before I became an art teacher I worked at a local coffee shop, so I still return and get a lot of milk boxes, supply boxes, caps, etc. from them. But if you a have a favorite place to go to, you can ask them when they get their orders in and then on the day of their order, you can go in and collect their -clean- recyclables. You can even go at the end of their day and ask. Another resource I use, living in the SF Bay Area are stores like The East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse in Oakland, CA and SCRAP in San Francisco, CA, where they have really good deals and sometimes even free items for teachers. Second Hand art stores are an art teacher’s aream.