Green Your Art: Buy Recycled

Artists, those consummate preservers of beauty, seem to have a keen sensitivity about sustaining the planet. If you’re an art collector, aficionado, or appreciator, this week’s tips should help you shift your collection (or simply the way you see art) into a more earth-minded endeavor.

Tip #1: Choose Works Made of Reused Materials

Plenty of artists are repurposing the items discarded around them into attractive – and valuable – works. Sandy Schimmel Gold, for example, created a 36-by-60-inch Birth of Venus entirely from junk mail (above). Tuesday Winslow makes papier-mâché mirror frames made of old phone directories and magazines. Home-furnishings retailer Maison 24 sells a wall hanging by artist Aaron Foster: a peace sign made of used license plates. Buy items like these, and you’ll not only be giving old stuff new life, but you’ll also be supporting artists who recycle while adding new treasures to your home. For inspiration, and if you live in the Northeast, visit Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum to see its “Trash Menagerie” exhibit.

Tip #2: Buy Art Made of Green Materials

Tip #3: Support Artists Who Depict Environmental Issues

Tip #4: Make it Yourself