Eco Friendly Artists Who Will Blow Your Mind

These eco friendly artists are making important statements about the planet

By Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Ecological Art or “Eco Art” is a contemporary form of environmental art created by global artists who are concerned about local and global environmental situations.

With various forms of pollution becoming increasingly serious, the field is growing rapidly. Hundreds of artists are working around the world to make a statement that they hope will strike the consciousnesses of us all.

That statement could be a visual one, which forces the viewer to pay attention to something that may otherwise be overlooked. Or it could be a material one, with eco friendly media employed instead of traditional oil paints, for example.

Here, I’ve picked what I think are the top 10 eco friendly artists in the world right now, rated for their important messages, their diverse media and of course, their outstanding talent.

10+ Eco Friendly Artists Who Will Blow Your Mind

1. Bettina Werner

Born in Milan, Italy, Bettina Werner is the world-renowned “Queen of Salt.” Yep, she’s the first artist to exclusively use salt as an artistic medium. For her, salt represents knowledge and wisdom, and has a long history and intimate necessity in human life. It’s the “Fifth element” for its importance to life on Earth.

Salt was once more valuable than gold, and has even functioned as currency making a mainstay of trade all over the world. Plus, it holds an essence of cleansing and healing.

Bettina’s rise to eco-artdom began in the 1990’s, when she was discovered at the age of 25 by the Marisa del Re Gallery in America, one of the most world’s most prestigious art galleries. She currently resides between the Hamptons and the Financial District of New York City, where she is contributing to a new beginning with the cathartic power of her one of a kind salt artworks.

Werner’s striking salt crystal artworks, be they sculptures or ‘paintings,’ are vivid reflections that chronicle her incredible journey. She harnesses the beauty of nature through Sicilian salt to create unique visual commentaries on life, love, and spirituality.

Salt Painting

2. Andy Goldsworthy

The best works of art don’t necessarily last the longest. Take the case of Andy Goldsworthy, for example. He’s one of the most renowned ‘land artists’ in the world, whose work is by nature transitory. Some of it lasts for a matter of minutes, while others may exist for years. But all are doomed to eventual disappearance.

Two of Goldsworthy’s most noteworthy installations include With Spire (2008) and Wood Line (2010), which used natural materials found nearby, including wood from Monterey cypress and eucalyptus trees (considered an invasive species).

But wood isn’t the only natural material he employs. He has produced works using everything from icicles and mud to flower petals and stones. Because of the ephemeral nature of many of his works, they are often captured in photographs and video, such as in the 2001 documentary ‘Rivers and Tides’, which uncovers a broad range of Goldworthy’s work and his artistic process, too.

Goldsworthy’s first sculpture at the Presidio was a towering spire made from 35 cypress trunks that is located near a Monterey cypress grove. The older trees that were used in the Spire, pictured below, were removed by the National Park Service at the end of their lifecycle to make way for younger saplings.

To stabilise the sculpture, the keystone tree was anchored into a metal sleeve within a 12-foot-deep hole and surrounded with concrete. At its base, the sculpture is 15 feet in diameter. The Spire soars 90 feet above the ground, and at its base a new crop of trees have been planted. In time, the towering spire will decay, and the trees surrounding it will continue to grow until they completely obscure it. Andy Goldsworthy Art

3. Jeff Hong

The New York-based animation artist Jeff Hong is one of the most popular eco friendly artists in the world. He has completely warped Walt Disney’s motto “where dreams come true.” The illustrator imagines some of Disney’s most popular characters battling the currently grim conditions facing many in the world.

Thus, we see mermaid Ariel emerge from a filthy sea, slick with an oil spill. Cinderella lurks in a dirty alley at night with her ball gown in tatters, after an apparent assault. Mulan covers her pretty face with a mask as she walks around the smoggy streets of contemporary China. Bambi is turned into a wall trophy by a hunter. Just to mention a few!

Through these kitschy and controversial images, Mr Hong makes bold socio-ecological statements. He stresses that if we don’t safeguard the planet and each other, the fairytale will most certainly not have a happy ending. Eco Friendly Artists Eco Friendly Artists

4. Marina DeBris

Marina’s work is rubbish – literally. This is one of those brilliant eco friendly artists who uses upcycled trash in her art to raise awareness of ocean and beach pollution.

Listed with the Women Environmental Artists Directory, the California based artist partners with various anti-pollution organisations, such as Friends of Ballona Wetlands, Ruckus Roots and the United Nations Special Assembly on Climate Change.

DeBris uses marine debris (as her name states) to create something rapidly gaining popularity in eco-chic circles: ‘trashion’. That is to say, art, jewellery, fashion and objects for the home created from used, thrown-out, found and repurposed elements.

Marina DeBris Marina DeBris

5. Maria Medina-Schechter

Maria Medina-Schechter is another one of our eco friendly artists, but this one is really different! She makes her paintings and sculptures from mycelium, the same material used to grow mushrooms.
Additionally, she actually paints with the pigments of organic blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, teas, and coffee. And get this: her art is as green as any plant you put into your home. In fact, her work cleans the air, just as a plant would sitting in the library or on a side table! Wow, right?

“The primary goal of ecologists is to improve their understanding of life processes, interactions and the biodiversity of organisms,” she says. “As an eco artist, I pursue the same goals to improve our understanding of life processes and create adaptations so we use healthier materials for a healthier world. Eco art is important because it raises awareness of the dangers facing the planet and promotes conservation.”

We couldn’t agree more!

6. Aviva Rahmani

Eco friendly artist Aviva Rahmani’s projects involve strong collaborations. She works with an interdisciplinary community of scientists, environmentalists and other eco artists. Her conceptual artwork embraces a wide range of projects, from complete landscape restorations to museum venues. Besides just painting, she also uses sound and photography in her work.

Aviva Rahmani’s Performing Ecology, Public Art and Visuals have often connected her name to Ecofeminism. The term originated with the French writer Francoise d’Eaubonne through her book, Le Feminisme ou la Mort, in 1974.

Aviva certainly is line with the movement, which connects the exploitation and domination of women with that of the environment. It also argues that there is historical connection between women and nature.

Aviva

7. Diane Burko

The painter and photographer from Brooklyn is another of our top eco friendly artists. She has always focused her work on monumental and geological phenomena, based on her ability to investigate actual locations on the ground and from the air.

Over the course of 40 years, Burko has primarily established herself as a landscape painter. But over the past decade, she has also gained recognition as a photographer. Her cinematic, aerial explorations document the current state of the natural environment.

Since 2000, Burko has studied volcanic tectonics and glacial geology, which has led her to her panoramic yet intimate imagery. Throughout her career, she has received many awards for her work, and in 2013, she received an Artist Fellowship Grant for her Arctic Circle Expedition from the Independence Foundation.

burko painting

8. Moses Ocheing and Pangea Sculptures

In 2014, Ian Unsworth created Pangea Sculptures after he came across fantastical sculptures at a roadside in Africa. Their beauty captured his heart so much, he met with the artist, Moses Ocheing, to arrange for a shipment to the UK.

Thanks to Pangea Sculptures, Ocheing’s work now reaches a wider audience. The works have also caused a ripple of positive change in Moses’ community. Today, Moses is undoubtedly one of Nairobi’s top eco friendly artists. Consequently, he has trained and guided more eco-sculptors to follow in his footsteps. Today, he has over 30 people helping to grow his sustainable business.

Moses and his team are currently working on The Ark Collection. This is a diverse collection of animals, from elegant giraffes and life-sized elephants, to gorillas, rhinos and even a frog chorus. The team make each sculpture from recycled metal discarded by the car industry, which would otherwise go to landfill.

Eco Friendly Artists

9. Alan Sonfist

The New York artist Alan Sonfist is another of our top eco friendly artists. His Land Art is a kind of style that links landscapes and artworks.

That said, this eclectic artist embraces painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, and multimedia. He also makes green art collages that combine everyday cultural materials with elements of art and nature. By using recyclable materials, he transforms ordinary objects into art.

His narration of nature is celestial and earthly at the same time. At times, leaves may cover a canvas, or branches may stand as totems to portray a world adorned by nature. At other times, he paints using earth pigments obtained exactly from the site portrayed.

a10-endangered-forest-east-fallEco Friendly Artists

10. Aurora Robson

Canadian Aurora Robson is another of the world’s most fabulous eco friendly artists. She’s a multimedia activist who creates sculptures out of waste. Aurora has lived and worked in New York for two decades. Consequently, she’s become very conscious of the problem on waste in the metropolis.

Robson likes to turn everyday trash into environmentally-friendly works of art to remind the public how much waste is generated by we humans. Her intricate art pieces resemble abstract organisms or objects, often enhanced by the use of LEDs to create a supernatural effect. Through her art, everyday rubbish gets transformed into a vibrant, vital object.

Eco Friendly Artists

11. Fiona Campbell

This UK visual artist creates mixed media artworks. She often blurs boundaries between sculpture, drawing, textiles and installation. Campbell has also tested her artistry in film, sculpture and performance art.

Incorporating found materials, her creations are the epitome of tentacularity. They show how we are part of a complex web of relationships from micro to macro. Campbell’s artwork evokes connections found in nature as metaphors for life, vitalism and regeneration.

Increasingly, environmental concerns inform the content of her work. The human exploitation of nature, over-consumption and waste, in particular. Her work also makes an activist statement against unethical factory farming, human abuse of wildlife and plastic in our oceans.

Alongside her artistic practice, Fiona Campbell works within the community on socially engaged projects, as an educator collaborating and sharing skills, as well as curating exhibitions.

Image below: Fiona Campbell Glut 2018 recycled & found materials 270cm(h)x180cm(w)x90cm(d) Photo Mike Garlick

Fiona Campbell art

12. Moffat Takadiwa

Moffat Takadiwais a contemporary visual artist from Zimbabwe. He gives to life stupendous creations using trash and upcycled clothing. He has exhibited his eco friendly artwork at galleries in Denmark, Paris, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Dubai, Harare and Los Angeles. For the latter he is represented by Nicodim Gallery.

Takadiwa trained at the Harare Polytechnic where he graduated with a BA Honors in Fine Art and his practice involves creating beautiful objects from items you would typically see at the bottom of a landfill.

He has recently joined forced with sustainability platform BLANK, which uses art and food to encourage carbon literacy. The experiential event called ‘Watching Our Waste’ took place in Los Angeles. It showcased environmentally-focused fashion, regenerative art and fine dining that was all low-waste and eco-friendly.

Eco Friendly Artists

13. Laura Madden

Laura Madden is a sustainable artist specializing in abstract upcycled art. In 2019, she decided to pursue her art professionally and ReFashioned Art was developed as a platform to spread her values and mission to reduce + reuse, strengthening the circular economy and making sustainability the new normal.

Everything Laura creates has one sole purpose: to create more style with less waste, which is achieved by finding beauty in places they’re not usually found. Whether it’s reclaimed fabric discards or unwanted art supplies, Laura effortlessly merges sustainability and style by repurposing old items into ones that are fashionable, chic and contemporary. Laura uses her artwork as a platform to demonstrate how you can make a home stylish and luxurious while caring for the planet simultaneously.

She believes that “our voice as consumers just might be the most influential, important and powerful vote we have today.” Now, that’s a mission we fully agree with!

 

Did we miss any of your favourite eco friendly artists? Let us know in the comments, below!

 

Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
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10 thoughts on “Eco Friendly Artists Who Will Blow Your Mind”

  1. Dear sir or madam Iam Mark a creatively artist from Somerset and a Ambassador for outsidein.org.uk which works with artists with disabilities and leading disabilities. I’ve just seen some of your beautiful environmentally friendly art is great to see such a kind amazing artist showcasing the environment across the globe you got my full back on all these amazing artists and the brilliant stuff they’re doing to erase attention and right across the globe. I am myself doing a project on the environment by using wood paper and may a dermatology which would normally be chucked away in landfill skips and things like that IM doing is painting on wood which tells the age of the tree how environmental it impacts on these different routes in ecological sites around the world, iam myself severely dyslexic .would you be interested in doing Feature on the natural world and environmentally friendly art, more details can be found on my website http://www.marknoble.art Kind regards Mark

  2. Pingback: Survival tactics: Sustainability in the Art World - .ART

  3. Pingback: From Waste to Works of Art: Our Favorite Sustainable Artists - Impakter

  4. For the last 20 years I have been cleaning the beaches of Cornwall. UK and in the last few years, S. France’s med, San Francisco, Canada and the Arctic (Svalbard) Ocean…gathering marine plastics to create wall-based artworks, performance, art-activism, installation etc.

    I look forward to your response

    Kind regards

    Georgina Maxwell

  5. If I cAN add, then I would not miss a chance to do it^ Copper wire, recycled, + seeds and dry flowers of wild trees, which needs to be protected, + sea shells: Rudraksha Rupin’s idea.

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