Sustainable Art

We have decided to add a new feature to our zine where every month we highlight some sustainable art we have been loving and this month we have chosen to focus on the work of Edinburgh based artist, Mairi Timoney. Mairi studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art and at L’École Superieure Des Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg, France. Mairi’s work often includes fragmented landscapes which come from an attraction to unfamiliar surroundings, quiet landscapes, architecture and the lives and stories of the people that inhabit these spaces.

How did you first get into art?

I have always loved drawing and painting, it’s always what I have been most fascinated by. I knew I wanted to study at art college and so I started going to life drawing classes when I was 15. I left school at 16 to attend a portfolio preparation course. I began studying at Edinburgh College of Art when I was 17 and then I have carried on making artwork since then.

What drew you to the idea of connecting different materials and creating multiple focal points? It probably started from an indecisiveness or an interest in many different styles of art and different types of materials. I feel that working this way gives me a wide scope of directions I can choose to go in as I can focus on more painterly work and I can bring photography in too. I can design patterns digitally and print them off onto textured paper or I can use pens and pencils on wooden boards. I love the openness this style of work gives me.

How do you ensure that you remain sustainable when you are creating your work? There’s a lot of saving, reusing and repurposing

that goes on when I am making my work. I keep every scrap of paper, receipt, ticket and wrapping paper from gifts as these are often used in collages. I always reuse previous packages when I am shipping work out to collectors. I also save any plastic from the kitchen to be used as pots to hold brushes or mix paint in my studio. I would like to improve the materials I use when I do package up my work and eliminate a lot of single use materials. I would also like to use a more eco friendly paint and these are things I’m currently looking into at the moment.

What is your favourite piece of work you have created so far? I think my favourite piece I have created so far is a painting I made in lockdown this year called ‘Under The Same Sky’. I really enjoyed the process of making this piece and the final outcome worked as I’d hoped it would.

This month’s issue is all about ‘connection’, how have you stayed connected this year? This year I have enjoyed connecting with the outdoors and whilst I have always loved being outside and my artwork has been greatly influenced by it, this year I have realised how essential it is to make time for it in my day to day life.

Where can our readers find you and your work? I regularly use instagram to share both my finished work and my process too. You can find my page here. I also update my website with new works regularly too which you can find here.