Last month I posted 16 Ways to Reduce the Carbon Footprint in Your Art Studio and I invited artists to contribute their ideas. One artist was chosen for their answer, and has won a free class: Courtney Wooten pointed out that as artists, our greatest potential for impact can be made by using our art to “spread awareness, to shine a light, to educate, inspire, agitate and help build a movement.”
Courtney Wooten: Although we do a lot of re-using canvases and re-purposing materials in our home, my mind keeps going back to Toni Cade Bambara’s exhortation that, “the role of the artist is to make revolution irresistible.” As important as personal responsibility and praxis is to me, over 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come from 100 corporations. Reducing my own carbon footprint is great, and using my art to spread awareness, to shine a light, to educate, inspire, agitate and try to help build a movement feels even greater! No social movement is without creativity and visual art—as Brecht (I think, I’m paraphrasing?) reminded us, our artistic expression isn’t just about holding up a mirror to reflect society, but wielding a hammer with which to shape it.
Exercise your creativity This SAL Challenge is a vocabulary based creative challenge every day for January. Materials are artist’s choice. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, sculpt your food, anything you want. See below for today’s creative challenge. Set the timer for 20 minutes and see what happens. UNIDEXTRAL If you’re ambidextrous then you can use both …
Once we miss a few in a row, many of us find it more difficult to pick a goal back up again. If this is you, don’t worry about anything you missed in the past, and don’t worry about what you might not be able to do in the future. See if you can doodle …
This is one in a series of posts showcasing work made by students in the League’s online classes. We have now been in quarantine for twelve months. In the last year, the League has grown in numbers, and our artistic voice as a school has evolved. We started working with Special Guest Star Fran O’Neill …
The Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn created nearly one hundred self portraits during his 63 years of life. Roughly 40 of these self portraits were oil paintings. The rest were drawings and etchings. This was, and is, a fairly unusual number of self portraits for an artist without a smartphone. He might have made self portraits to practice rendering …
The role of the artist is to make revolution irresistible
Last month I posted 16 Ways to Reduce the Carbon Footprint in Your Art Studio and I invited artists to contribute their ideas. One artist was chosen for their answer, and has won a free class: Courtney Wooten pointed out that as artists, our greatest potential for impact can be made by using our art to “spread awareness, to shine a light, to educate, inspire, agitate and help build a movement.”
Courtney Wooten: Although we do a lot of re-using canvases and re-purposing materials in our home, my mind keeps going back to Toni Cade Bambara’s exhortation that, “the role of the artist is to make revolution irresistible.” As important as personal responsibility and praxis is to me, over 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come from 100 corporations. Reducing my own carbon footprint is great, and using my art to spread awareness, to shine a light, to educate, inspire, agitate and try to help build a movement feels even greater! No social movement is without creativity and visual art—as Brecht (I think, I’m paraphrasing?) reminded us, our artistic expression isn’t just about holding up a mirror to reflect society, but wielding a hammer with which to shape it.
Use your art to raise awareness, call for action, and change the world. (Works for any medium and skill level!) – Courtney Wooten
Thank you for the call back to our powerful potential as artists, Courtney. Looking forward to seeing you in class!
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Exercise your creativity This SAL Challenge is a vocabulary based creative challenge every day for January. Materials are artist’s choice. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, sculpt your food, anything you want. See below for today’s creative challenge. Set the timer for 20 minutes and see what happens. UNIDEXTRAL If you’re ambidextrous then you can use both …
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The Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn created nearly one hundred self portraits during his 63 years of life. Roughly 40 of these self portraits were oil paintings. The rest were drawings and etchings. This was, and is, a fairly unusual number of self portraits for an artist without a smartphone. He might have made self portraits to practice rendering …