By Laura Cummings
As passions go, painting and the environment are not usually thought of in the same breath. But Stefan Thompson, a Centretown-based artist, is making a career of bringing the two together.
Thompson is phasing out manufactured paints from his work, and using environmentally friendly ones instead.
That’s because manufactured paint can contain heavy metals like cobalt and cadmium, both he says have been linked to cancer.
He started experimenting with organic, homemade paints by combining dry colour pigment with eggs.
“I’d known about heavy metals for a long time, because I studied them in school,” he says. “Slowly over time I got more and more unsettled with the feeling that the thing I was creating was hurting the environment.”
Thompson has a degree in environmental science from Carleton University and his work, much of which reflects a love for the prehistoric creatures, has been displayed around the city in colourful murals.
Last October, Thompson attended the Earthling Festival in Vancouver. During the two-day environmental awareness fair, Thompson and a fellow artist created an entire mural with egg-based, homemade paint.
Though Thompson says he still has a lot of experimenting to do with the medium, he wants to go “completely natural” with his work.
“I think to be at peace with what you do, you have to think it’s a good thing,” he says. “And for it to be a good thing, it can’t be polluting the earth.”
Thompson says it’s important to be environmentally minded after the creative part is over – by watching water usage and taking used paint water to the nearest toxic waste facility.
Mike Moffat, the supervisor of the art supply store Wallack’s, is also an advocate of homemade paints because of his concerns with the side effects of oil-based paints have on the environment.
“I definitely recommend any artist make their own paint,” he says.
Moffat says he encourages all artists to share Thompson’s type of practice for both creative and environmental reasons.
Water- and oil-based paints are harmful to the environment for different reasons, Moffat says.
The production of water-based paints creates an excess of waste, while oil-based are dangerous because thinners like turpentine are added and then end up in the drain.
Another major benefit of making materials at home, according to Moffat, is less unused paint going to waste. As well, artists can create a medium exactly the way they want.
“The paints have a very specific consistency every time,” he says.
Moffat says the main turn-off from making homemade paint for many artists is time commitment.
In some cases, it can take almost a day to produce only one tube of paint.
Jason Kania, secretary and webmaster for the Sierra Club of Canada Ottawa Group says art is an arena for new ideas and exploration, including discussions about the environment.
For the past six years, he has been promoting the group’s commitment to advocating conservation and environmental protection.
“Artists are often leading-edge or fringe individuals,” he says. “I would like to think they would be the ones (to promote environmental protection).”
Kania says an artist’s choice in materials can make a huge difference.
Oil-based paints can be especially toxic for the environment, the artist and even those admiring the work, he adds.
“They have an environmental cost,” he says. “They have an impact.”
The most important thing, Kania says, is that artists like Stefan Thompson are making an effort.