Online Course for Members

October 24, 2026 - January 2, 2027

Sustain(ability) & the Art Studio: Environmental Justice

DEADLINE October 1, 2026

This course will help artists integrate a solidarity-oriented approach to their creative practice, as we address the significance of intersectional thinking within repressive structures. We will cover topics such as environmental justice, decolonial praxis, and food sovereignty, (among others) to understand the impacts of globalization on people and the environment. As we study these topics alongside the function of art in cultural production, participants will be invited to attune to their surroundings through collaboration, advocacy, contribution, or invocation in their own eco-art practice. No prior understanding is required. 

As part of our Sustain(ability) & the Art Studio series, participants will also learn how to wildcraft art materials, and think critically about how one’s community and ecosystem are vital allies in a time of socio-ecological destabilization.  

The first half of the course includes lectures, guest artist talks, resource offerings, and group discussion, as we explore the implications of a justice-oriented art practice and investigate the function of art today. In the second half of the course, each student will work on their own research project, informed by course content (this may include a project already in progress). They will receive feedback from Anna and the class before a final presentation, open to the public. 

All classes will be held on Saturdays from 2-4pm ET. The first three sessions will take place over three consecutive weeks, beginning on October 24th. The final two classes will take place over two months, giving students time to execute a creative project of their own inspired by course content.

This online course is taught by Anna Chapman with guest artists Juan William Chávez, and Beverly Naidus.

Course Schedule

I - Intro to Solidarity in Creative Practice - Saturday, October 24, 2-4pm EST

- Visiting artist from ecoartspace (((Bee (Beverly) Naidus))) 

- Function of art in cultural production

- Ecological frameworks

- Environmental Justice 

- Solidarity in creative practice

- The local and the global

II - Art Processes & Sustainability - Saturday, October 31, 2-4pm EST

- Sustainability as a standalone concept

- Historical background of art

- Sustainable art processes

- Paints, inks, & watercolors

- Charcoal

- Natural dyes 

- Papermaking 

- Found & recycled materials

- Ecological approaches to art education

III - Objectives, Relationships & Alliances - Saturday, November 7, 2-4pm EST

- Visiting artist from ecoartspace (((Juan William Chavez)))

- Interbeing 

- Local relationships and alliances

- Decolonial frameworks

- Settler-colonial + Indigenous Relations

- Food sovereignty

- Developing ideas around sustainability

- Action plan (students develop a project from an action plan)

VI - Progress Presentations - Saturday, December 5, 2-4pm EST

- Participants share the research and progress of their projects and receive feedback from class and instructor

V - Presentations - Saturday, January 2, 2-4pm EST

- Participants present and debrief about their projects

Anna Chapman is passionate about the intersection of art, education, ecology and healing. Believing that interdisciplinary approaches to art and education are necessary to meaning-making in the context of the Anthropocene, her work is inspired by post-colonial, post-human, early European, and indigenous perspectives. Through her practice, Anna aims to mobilize reconciliatory relationships to place, community, materiality, and voice, to awaken one’s innate capacity for care and creative life force. She received a BFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2012, a Masters of Arts in Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2022, and is currently pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts at UMass Amherst. Anna currently teaches through the Center for Art Education and Sustainability, the Continuing Education department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and at Umass Amherst. @owl_and_apple  annachapmaneducation.com

Cost is $375 per member, membership fee can be waved if needed. Approximately 12 participants max. Scholarships available. 

Email info@ecoartspace.org to participate