MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
April 11, 2022
This week we recognize the work of artist Olivia Ann Carye Hallstein.
"I am lucky enough to interview members of this community of long-standing environmental practitioners each month. Over the course of the last few years, this community and my own local community has inspired me to navigate my practice more towards elements of sustainability by teaching classes and workshops surrounding materials, sourcing, practice development and community resilience."
"Through this experience there have been some overarching themes that continue to reveal themselves in this quest toward a responsible and conscious practice. Topics that permeate throughout the systems surrounding arts and design practices like production, materials, and waste management that are often left out of arts curricula."
Carye Hallstein has developed a working list of guidelines for artists to refer to in continually striving toward eco-consciousness and sustainability.
"I have realized that the content of a work is only a small piece of the larger puzzle surrounding the conception and influence that a work has on our environments, our communities, and our own well-beings. No practice can be all these things, but if we each strive towards two of each of these goals for each category, we will be well on our ways toward really standing and acting in the interest of environmental justice and community resilience."
Carye Hallstein's Sustainable Practice Guidelines for the Arts is broken down into five categories: Materials and Sourcing, Production, Content, Influence, and Waste Management. Each category contains a working list of guidelines meant to accompany artists on their journeys towards the goal of sustainability. Examples range from choosing materials sourced from fair trade practices, to ensuring that the content of the work produced creates awareness for the environment or for an ecosystem, to striving to repurpose all waste produced from one's studio practice.
She will be teaching a course based on these guidelines from May 24th to June 6th (Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday) that will cover artistic practices from material to production to concept to waste.
Register for the course HERE.
Olivia Ann Carye Hallstein is a Cambridge-based internationally exhibited artist and educator who has practiced professionally since 2010 at age 19. She writes articles for ecoartspace, is a Royal Society of Arts Fellow, and works regularly for SMFA at Tufts University. Her studio, the "Edible Nest Studio" (founded 2021) in Cambridge, MA works to create whole systems and integrated approaches to the practice of both design and culinary fields. Exhibition highlights include: Maxim-Gorki Theater, Deutsches Theater, LA54, Uferhallen, RAW Temple, Der Kanal, BAT theater, TIK Theater, the MFA Boston, Piano Craft Gallery, Tufts university, Nature of Cities Festival, and Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. edibleneststudio.com oachallstein.com
Featured Images: ©Olivia Ann Carye Hallstein, "Taste of Coconut Water (detail)" from the Taste Test Series (2021), "Pokeberry Sketch" from Lifespans: Natural Dyes (2021), "Orange Medley" from Lifespans: Fruits & Berries (2022), "Blackberry Love Circle" from Lifespans: Fruits & Berries (2022).
