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Dirty Jobs - Art-wise

See also:  [Safety Issues]
           [Art Materials]
           [(art) concepts]

Dirty Jobs - Art-wise
(this page inspired by the ep on "Cleaning the Bells")

   "In order to clean something,
    something else must get dirty".
              -- attributed to "Murphy".

Note: The ideas of dirtiness are organised based
      on the art area (eg, painting, sculpture, etc).
      Each area has its own ways....

On this page:   {Intro}

The "classics"  {Drawing}
                {Painting}
                {Sculpture}

And the rest:   {Casting}
                {Ceramics}
                {Photography}
                {PrintMaking}
                {Welding}
                {Computers and such}
                {Assemblage}
                {Restoration and Preservation}
                {Installation}
                {Showing}
                {Links}
                {Refs}

   
 
Intro

A lot of learning art is leanring wht the materials are and
how they are used. And of course that means the usual:

  Getting ready to do   The doing of it   Cleaning up afterwards

A particular problem in all work is just keeping the
art work itself clean. This is a special problem when 
many people may be using various art materials in the 
same room. Usually special areas are set asside for 
storing specific kinds of things. Paintings are almost
always stored vertically, while drawings require so-called
"flat files" cabinets to store them horizontally.

In many cases the work on a particular project may span
several days, weeks, or even months - necessitating the
proper and safe storage of the art work in progress.

Many art materials are actually fairly toxic (well at least 
some of them - especially the solvents used to clean up). 
And of course since when you are creating you usually get 
"lost in the moment", that's why it's important to have a 
good knowledge of the materials and their proper handling. 
As well as constantly practicing safe procedures. Almost
all art classes begin early on with a "saftey lecture".

Of course, the real thing IS to have fun - that motivation
is one of the reasons why childrens art materials are 
specially designed to be non-toxic. Of course "non-toxic"
doesn't mean that you can eat the materials - or stick
them in your ear. The first experience we have is usually
with finger paints - and we remember that experience so
intensely becasue finger paints have such a unique (and
mostly non-toxic) smell. 

ASTM ??toxicity?? specification

The two most important sources of toxicity are the
pigments used to colour things and the solvents used
to clean up with.

One of the most common pigments is "Cadmium Yellow" which
has a cadmium metal salt as the source of that great yellow
-- which is pretty toxic. And of course, lead is the 
worst one - it is absorbed fairly easily directly through
the skin. THe main problem is long-term exposure of the
various chemicals which either end up in the bones - and
possibly causing cancer --or-- the effect the nervous 
system directly possibly causing blindness, insanity and
of course in the worst case death. 

The least toxic solvent is water, but again the paint or
other art material itself may be a source of toxicity. 
The worst toxins are paint-thinner, paint-remover, and
various chemicals used in various ways; eg, drying agents,
photographic salts, 

The other sources of danger arise from the tools and methods
that are used in doing art; eg, wood chisels, electric or hand
tools (saws, drills, etc), splattering chamicals and especially
heated materials used in welding and printmaking which can cause
burns in addition to any toxic effects.

And of course these sorts of things end up not only being 
skin-contact toxins, but air-borne toxins as well; eg, 
spray paint and of course the fumes of solvents.

    
Drawing

Preparing a clean work area is essential since
residues from such things as charcoal, coloured
pastels and chalks, and ink are easily picked
up while you are working and deposited causing
much grief. For example, it's not un-common to
take a damp paper towel and wipe down a piece
of paper before resuming drawing on it - especially
when using permanent inks.

Probably the most benign and common materials
are things like pencils (of varying "harness"),
coloured pencils and water-colours. 

The worst things are the coloured pastels (a kind
of chalk) which can contain toxins just as dangeroous
as paints - especially when they are *scraped down".
Inhaling the dust is a particular problem even if
the materials are not toxic; eg, powdered graphite,
charcoal, plaster, etc. 
                
Markers also come in a variety of pigments and materials.
The solvent used to disolve them is refered to as the
vehicle. The range of things goes from vegatable dyes
to the gold filagre pens which use toxic toluene as
the vehicle.

    
 
Painting

Of all of the arts, painting is seen as *the*
defining concept of art. And of course, that
has been going on for thousands of years - it
is only by coincidence and luck that we even
found the painted caves, such as those at 
Lascaux.                

Painting probably presents the most contact with
the most toxic of art materials and chemicals. In
recent times there are available materials that are
specifically designed to be non-toxic (or at least
*less* toxic than traditional materials). 

If the paintings is to be done on a canvas, then the
"stretchers" made out of wood must be purchased or
built. A stretcher is simply a wooden frame onto which
the canvas is stapled. Of course pre-built canvases are
the most common for painters to use. 

Tecnically speaking a canvas or a piece of paper is 
refered to as the MATRIX. And obviously this could be
wood panneling, glass, metal, stone, or cloth. In
the case of the art of tatooing the matrix is the
skin itself. 

Priming the surface is accomplished using "gesso" which
is a well-designed primer for use with almost all art
materials. The primer prevents the materials from bleeding
into the matrix, making maintenance of the art work much
easier. In some cases this bleeding is desirable - the 
most common example is in the dying of fabrics.

As mentioned earler the pigments are toxic in many cases.
Oddly enough their disposal is a real problem. If you 
try to wash them down the sink they will almost always
stop it up. Special "traps" are designed so that the
materials can be prevented from clogging the drains.
Also, in recent times the idea of recovery and recycling
of the waste materials has come to the forefront of 
concerns in working in art.

    
 
Sculpture

The two most common "classical" sculptural materials are
plaster and marble. In theory, any kind of "rock" can
be used in a similar manner. This is evidenced by 
studying ancient art when sculptors used a wide 
variety of naturally occuring minerals; eg, limestone,
sandstone, 

Stacked brick or stone to make walls, mounds, or
even teritorial demarcations are common throughout
the world. Concrete and other aggregate means of
"gluing" stone include things like tiling, in-laid
metal and stone, metal and wood, stone and wood, etc.

Metal sculpture ranges from working with iron and
bronze - both in casting as well as molding and 
shaping it to so-called "small metals" sculptures
most common in jewelry production. 

Another traditional material is of course wood.
The only problem is that unless special precautions
are taken it is likely to degernate over time. From
rotting to being eaten by insects and of course 
burned are ways that the artworks can be lost.
In most cases the *only* wooden art relics of
wood that are present have been preserved in the
most unusual of circumstnaces; eg, the extremely
dry chambers in the pyramids preserved wooden
objects. 

Wood can of course be nailed, glued, or even just
stacked as part of the art work. Other common
methods involve wood-burning and carving. Similarly
rope, fabrics, vines, yarn, etc. can be used as
art materials. Modern synthetics have of course
opened the door to almost endless possibilites.

In modern times the most common "new" material is
"plastic" - or rather various plastics. These
range from styrofoam to styrene to lucite, etc.
They can be molded, cast, glued, carved - and in
some cases even welded. All of these involving 
specific technologies, tools, and processes.

And of course "large scale" sculpture extends to
the concept of architecture as well as large 
carved objects; eg, Mount Rushmore, the Sphynx, etc.
And in these cases the scafolding required to allow
the work to be done approaches an art unto itself.

    
Casting

Castings can be made with "cold" materials
such as plaster (which actually heats up as it
sets), liquid plastic which is hardened with
a catalytic agent, and gels. Heating a material
until it is liquid ranges from traditional bronze
and iron to waxes and of course various plastics.

The production of the mold used to make the major
*form* of the object is often complemented by an
armature framework hidden inside the sculpture to
lend it stength and structure.                 

    
 
Ceramics

If sculpture is the art of taking a found object
- eg, a slab of marble or limestone - then ceramics
is the next logical step: Build it from scratch.
The most common form is to take clay (and there
are a myriad number of different clay mixtures
to choose from; eg, terra-cotta, porcelean, etc)
and then mold it while wet, bake it in a kiln/oven.
Once it has been "bisqued" in the first "firing",
it can then be coloured with various "dyes" -
refered to as glazes. In addition various clays
have in themselves certain colours. 

And as with all pigments the problems of toxicity
are ever-present. 

    
 
Photography

In most cases there are two stages in the 
production of a photograph: The creation of
a "negative" and then the subsequent transformation
of that into the "positive" image that is usually
considered to be the art. But, note the use of
negative in films to simulate altered states of
reality; eg, a drug trip, Dave Bowman's journey
in the film "2001: A Space Odyssey", etc.              
   
The most common chemicals in "wet" photography are 
silver salts, acetic acid and sulfur salts - all
in water solution. In most cases the "shelf life"
of the chemicals is limited and they have to be
discarded after a while (even if they haven't been
used). Much of photography revolves about re-using
the chemicals as much as possible as well as 
recovery of the silver salts. Silver is not particularly
toxic, but it has the effect of killing bacteria 
(hence the use of a silver pitcher to store milk
before the advent of refridgeration) - and as such
is a definite hazard to the eco-system since 
bacteria are at the heart of the Earth's
recycling system.

The papers used are of course light-senesitive and
need to be properly stored and opened only in a 
dark room. There are of course various kinds of
film - from black and white to high-contrast to
colour to infra-red, etc. 

Also, in recent times a return to "traditional"
methods include things like Van Dyke and Cyanotype
processes, etc. 

    
 
PrintMaking

Printmaking is essentially *merely* a differnt
kind of painting/drawing. However the chemical
processes are different from that of oil paints.
And where-as linseed oil is the most common solvent
for paint, so-called "burnt-plate" oil is used in
much of printmaking. 

In addition, the process of aquatinting by which
the intensity and tonality (light/dark values) of
the image is altered invovles things like rosin
as well as spray paint.                 

And of course in the case of etching, acid (usually
nitric acid) or a "mordant" (ferrous choloride) is
usually invovled - both requiring extra caution
in handling. 

Also, the inks used in etching or relief-printing 
need to be cleaned from the plates when printing
is completed. Otherwise, they clog and thus "cloud"
the image. And this involves some sort of solvent.
In many cases cooking oil can be used to clean
the plate. But, for *deep* cleaning paint thinner
(mineral spirits) or even paint remover (extremely 
toxic toluene-based) solvents must be used. Again
these present not only skin-contact issues, but
inhalation as well as disposal issues.

    
 
Welding

One of the almost certain facts of welding is
that you WILL be burnt at one time or another.

Methane or propane gas can be used for welding, 
but most common is an oxy-acetylene mixture.
These are *not* particularly dangerous to look
at - despite movies showing people with darkened
goggles.

However, metal-feed and electric-welding ARE quite
dangerious to the eyes as the produce intense 
ultra-violent in excess of even looking directly
at the sun. Some sort of filtered glasses or 
visor is a requirement when doing this kind of
welding. 
  
            
    
 
Computers and such
  
The most common health issues of computers are
eye strain and carpel-tunnel syndrome. 
              
One of the most important recent concerns is the
idea of recycling the ink cartridges. There is 
every reason to do this. In many cases an artist
or art department may want to look into re-inking
the cartridges themselves - and of course almost
every manufacturer has a recycling program. 


    
 
Assemblage
 

                {Restoration and Preservation}
               
    
 
Installation
                

    
 
Showing
                

    
 
Links
                


 
Refs