During our initial TTP timeline session, I realized I had neglected to add a post-it regarding environmental pledges made by UAL, a decision which greatly affected my course. My course is a technical sculpture course that trains people for multiple industries, but namely the hugely wasteful film industry. Overall film productions have been massively wasteful, the gallons of silicone used for prosthetics, the harsh and chemical foams and fiberglasses, even the meters upon meters of fabrics needed for costuming,
One of our LO’s has increasingly become about sustainable materials specifically about training our students to be more environmentally minded from the get go of their budding careers, perhaps to instill a consciousness early on. Our costume students have been given ‘green sheets’ which have them prove their eco mindfulness throughout the making of their pieces, and our students in tech arts have had sustainable material choices, research, and reflections added to their LO’s.
Initially, I was very hesitant about this, I was worried we were leading our students down a false road of knowledge that wasn’t applicable in their real-world careers. Frankly, there isn’t a good sustainable silicone alternative that looks as realistic as the industry standard sil-skins, why should our students be using jesmonite (a plaster-based polymer) over the good old hardy fiberglass? We were paid to train them for industry, and I felt we simply weren’t delivering them a real-world education. Until however, I noticed a few wonderful changes happening,
My students hadn’t gone for silly alternatives like paper mache, they found their way back to wax! Wax is a classical sculptural material, beloved in the past and appreciated for it’s ability to be hard as a rock for carving, then melted back down into a soft liquid for reforming. This is a very old-fashioned skill set I have from my bronze casting foundry, a skill rarely found in studios today but because I was able to teach my students how to sculpt and manage wax properly they all took it on board and started casting in wax, making old fashioned plaster moulds (extremely eco-safe) and developed a lovely old fashioned skill set! Or so I had thought!
As it transpires the film industry juggernauts have also made eco pledges and were looking for young people with traditional skill sets to come in and be part of a new generation! This old-fashioned skill set gave my graduating students an edge in the competition, combined with the bronze industry and I noticed that our students from UAL where the most classically trained bunch of the lot!
I’m absolutely delighted that what I very wrongly thought was a huge performative pain, actually led to a great real-world outcome for my students. There’s still obstacles as wax can’t fix everything, but these small innovations back to traditional sculpting might end up being a key part for their future educations.
References:
University of the Arts London (n.d.) Time in nature: learning in, with, for nature – case study. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/News/247593/time-in-nature-learning-in-with-for-nature-case-study
Entertainment Partners (EP) (2024) The Race to Net Zero Is On for Big Studios. Available at: https://www.ep.com/blog/the-race-to-net-zero-is-on-for-big-studios/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
C&I Studios (n.d.) Sustainable filmmaking practices: green solutions for production. Available at: https://c-istudios.com/sustainable-filmmaking-practices-green-solutions-for-production/
University of the Arts London (n.d.) Climate action plan. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/climate-action-plan
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