Green Antiques, Art and Utilitarian Items

No, we're not talking about old things being allowed to molder in a  barn.  Rather, we're talking about the idea of taking an environmental approach to purchasing art and even functional items.  Goinggreenhints.com found this definition of 'going green':  "A phrase referring to individual action that a person can consciously take to to curb harmful effects on the environment through consumer habits, behavior and lifestyle". 

Fundamental to our concept here at Crystal Moon Gallery, was the idea that people can get greater enjoyment out of a smaller number of very high-quality items, vs. a large number of cheap items.  Further, that there are a large number of very skilled artists and artisans in North Texas producing very fine, original, work that surpasses factory-made items in both quality, workmanship, and yes even environmental stewardship.

Paintings vs. Prints:  High-quality prints are available with a design-life of many decades.  However, most commonly available prints are applied to wood-pulp-based papers, with a life expectancy of just years.  After all, the objective of mass-produced prints is to keep costs low.  Oil-paint on canvas can be expected to last centuries.  And, archival grade papers used by most water-colorists can also be expected to last for well over one-hundred years.  Further, original art is usually viewed as an heirloom which is passed between generations...saving many trees over periodic replacement of prints.

Trees lost to storms typically find their way to a landfill, or are shredded into mulch.  This is because most wood mills have no cost-efficient procedure for using downed-trees.  However, local artists are able to salvage wood from these lost trees, producing bowls, pens, and many other useful items.  Thus, each tree salvaged by an artist saves waste, as well as a living tree that might be cut for lumber.

Green (the spending kind): By far the greatest bang-for-your-buck will come from buying from local artists.  The reason for this is two-fold:

• Most artists cannot afford waste.  They will salvage, reuse, recycle or otherwise utilize every gram of silver, block of wood, drop of paint/glaze or fragment of a gemstone.
• Most artists are only trying to feed one person off their talents.  And, although economies of scale are a very real phenomenon, and definitely benefit the factory, each level of the distribution chain requires a markup in price.  The result being that retail jewelry stores (for example) charge prices (for mass-produced items) 5 times (or more) the price collected by the original factory.

Antique Furniture represents trees that were cut generations ago.  Arguably, the ultimate form of reuse, decades-old furniture has proven its sturdiness, and ability to survive use.  By contrast, most modern furniture is a wood-fiber product that is heavy, short-lived, and produces other waste products.

Please join us in supporting local artists...and the environment.