Commitment to Sustainability
Blank Canvases is committed to teaching sustainable practices in art making. To address the climate crisis, we understand that our creative choices intersect with many aspects of an environmentally healthy community.
To do this, we use up-cycled and reclaimed materials in our art-making projects whenever possible. For specific lessons, we may ask our participants to collect items, either found or from the recycling bin, to contribute to the lesson. Inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) we aim to advance creative education that is accountable and responsible to our planet.
Particularly, read about Goals 12, 14, and 15 below.
Sustainable Development Goals
(12.5) Substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
(14.1) Prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution
(15.1) Ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services […]
Working Local
We are proud to work in collaboration with local companies in Toronto to collect donations of what we call Beautiful Waste. The things received are outstanding, high-quality artist materials, which would typically go to a landfill. Now they are diverted to our classrooms, workplaces, and festival programming, allowing communities to be inspired and accountable to the planet in their art-making.
Wallpaper books from supply stores and design firms
Wood samples and tiles from architecture firms
Paper colour chips from paint companies
Unsold magazines from bookstores
Fabric samples from interior design firms
Off-size paper and end of rolls from print shops
Mat boards from framing factories
Examples creative work using these reclaimed materials
In-School Lesson: Liz Pead’s Fabric Collage Landscapes
In-School Lesson: Chris Walsh's 3D "Map Sculptures"
In-School Lesson: Tonya Hart’s Arctic AnimalsOUR wonderful DONATION PARTNERS
Located in Toronto and want to make a material donation? Please reach out to us at info@blankcanvases.org