Natalie Angier explores the rising popularity of organic art ‒ work that depends on natural and organic materials such as hair, compost, and even cockroaches ‒ in the New York Times article: Of Compost, Molecules and Insects, Art Is Born.
Natural materials allow anyone to be an artist, with a little creativity. When you work with natural supplies you are working with more than cost‒effective methods, though. As stated in the article:
Mr. Peña likes the medium of cockroach aesthetically, the way he can use the different tones in the wings as his palette to convey light and shadow. He likes it metaphorically, how we are disgusted by something with which we have so much in common … “Cockroaches are a witness to our daily lives,” Mr. Peña said. He also likes his medium pragmatically. “It’s a material that I can easily find,” he said, “and it’s cheaper than buying paint.”
Organic art is not only natural and cheap, it’s creative by definition…because it can be so unique.
If you want to be an artist, all you have to do is look around you for a medium you can use right now. Want to be a better writer? Find inspiration in the natural world. A painter that has no money to buy paints? Consider natural alternatives such as mud. In‒fact: all of us can create organic art for whatever our profession or interest may be.
Look around you today, at everything you encounter but often overlook. What could you use to create art? How could you creatively use organic materials to help you with your next project or hobby? Read the full article on organic art and then try to create something organic yourself today.