3D Sustainability Showcase opens at York School of Art

Named Make Things Happen, the exhibition showcases stunning pieces of work from the York School of Art degree-level students on our BA (Hons) 3D Creative Practice course.

Each exhibit represents at least one of The United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development and the work will be on show until Sunday 1^st June in the York College & University Centre Art Gallery and our first-floor Podium Garden.

The artwork features a range of student-led projects which respond to global challenges such as climate action, clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption and gender equality.

The project’s aim is for visitors to engage with the artworks, then consider and reflect on how small actions can contribute to a more sustainable planet. 

Former Horticultural tutor and current 3D Creative Practice student John Stanley is one of the artists who has been involved in the project.

Having never studied art before and initially attended York College to study an evening class in pottery, John now studies the degree-level York School of Art course on a part-time basis.

John chose Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) as the theme of his piece and spoke to us about his inspirations and the methods he used to create his artwork.

What was your inspiration behind your work?

“My inspiration was to do with the use of local resources and the resources we have here within the grounds of York College. 

“I have been doing monthly well-being walks around the grounds and the Forest School and have found a huge amount of wind-blown Hazel Witch which inspired me to think about how I could use those materials within an art project.

“Everything I do in my work is completely sustainable. There is nothing that isn’t sustainable. The making process is just my labour and it’s all made with zero carbon footprint.”

How have you interpreted sustainability in your work?

“My project is based around a drop spindle which is a basic tool we have used since stone age man. Fibre is used with this to create a thread, which is then woven to create a cloth.

“I live out in the countryside and there is a farm next door where I can get willow leaf catkin to use on the drop spindle.

“I generally source materials from things from my garden, from fields and from hedgerows.

“I hand spin the cloth and use plant dyes to create my textile pieces. 

“For the dyes I use things like solidago, rhubarb, dandelion and Brazilwood. In total I’ve created 18 different coloured dyes.”

Have you faced any challenges in creating a sustainable piece of artwork?

“You have to succumb to the material and let it tell you what it wants to do.

“We can manipulate to a certain degree, but that material will always change and go in the direction it wants to go. You have to adapt.

“In art we have such a great scope to use anything that is sustainable or environmental. We have our own art shop on our doorstep. Not a literal shop, but a metaphorical shop.”

What would you like viewers to take away from the exhibition?

“Make Things Happen isn’t about creating solutions, it’s about creating questions. 

“For anyone to come, they will look, they will see, they will smell and they will listen. 

“They can then contemplate on what we’ve made to consider how they can take forward sustainability. 

“We want to thought provoke and for people to consider what they can do.”