Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary strives to find creative ways to contribute to a sustainable community and environment.

This is the mission that I wrote for the gallery a year and a half ago. At first, they were just words, but now they influence my daily actions and decisions, and impact almost every work of art and person who steps into the space. I can’t claim to be 100% sustainable in everything that we do, but I am always thinking about it and pushing myself to find new ways to reach this vision. I make a conscientious effort to incorporate ‘green ideas’ into our daily happenings and to get our artists on board with thinking about it. After all, art won’t matter much if there is not a healthy earth to enjoy it on.

Why write a mission statement for the gallery in the first place? I am not a non-profit organization with a mission to fulfill. It is a self-imposed mission. It came about because of my decision to use my place of business as a potential example to the community. I realized that I have the opportunity and the responsibility as a human on this planet to try to set a positive example for how we should approach everything we do.

Daily purchases are questioned. Is it really needed? Is there an environmentally-friendly or recycled option? Is there a locally-produced option? Can I borrow it from someone?

In curating shows and choosing artists, again this question comes up. Is the subject the artist is exploring somehow connected to community or environment? Is the artist choosing materials that are appropriate to an environmentally-friendly vision? Is there a non-profit organization that can be connected to the show through donations? How can we connect an educational aspect to this, bring in kids?

Artists today are increasingly trying to reduce the environmental impact of their work. Or you can look at that another way…that artists are trying to increase the environmental influence of their work through modeling and awareness. What is the role of art during this time of global climate change? How does it contribute in a negative way? How can it be part of the solution? It’s those artists who honor and admire the tree that gave itself to the handle of the paintbrush that are coming to the forefront.

Art is probably one of the most sustainable things around, if only from the perspective that most people buy art with the intent that it will last forever. Art not only reflects history, it responds to the now, and the now is all about having a greener vision. It inspires change and creates awareness. Art has the ability to raise questions and make us acknowledge important issues. The challenge here is to balance business and the message. It is important for the consumers, the art-lovers, to be informed and made aware of the many ways that art can contribute to sustainability.

Enough microgestures and thoughts start to link up and create one big gesture together. My contribution to that big gesture is through art.

10 ways Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary shows it’s hip to be green

1. Compostable Corn Cups. All the cups used at our openings/events are corn based and compostable.www.biodegrabablestore.com
   --> planning on encouraging people to “Leave No Trace” by bringing their own cup to events
2. Wine. We work with our local wine store to find wine for our openings that is tasty, creative, and grown using sustainable farming and environmentally friendly techniques. For example, French Rabbit is packaged in 100% recyclable material using Tetra Pak design which protects the wine from harmful UV rays. There are also 2 more glasses per container, therefore reducing the amount of packaging overall. For every 4 bottles of wine sold, the company plants 1 tree. Those are some great reasons to choose French Rabbit.
3. Beer. We only serve locally brewed beer from the Snake River Brewery. We often pour OB-1, Snake River Brewery’s first organic beer. www.snakeriverbrewing.com
4. Pedestals. In order to ship most art, artists must crate and box their works to ensure safe delivery to the gallery. Recently we began reusing those crates to become pedestals for our sculptures. Some are painted or covered in fabric, some are left raw.
5. Gallery Furniture. We shop at the local Habitat for Humanity “ReStore” for all of our gallery furniture, contributing to a sustainable community with an emphasis on reusing and upcycling.www.jacksonhabitat.com/restore
6. Invitations. All of our snail-mailed invitations are printed on 100% recycled paper, chlorine free, with vegetable-based inks.www.greenerprinter.com
   --> left-overs are used for scrap paper, art projects, or recycled.
7. E-Vites. We have been encouraging people to get off of our mailing list and onto our e-vite list instead. Obviously, electronic reminders cut way down on waste produced. To join our e-vite list, visit our website at www.lmcontemporary.com
8. Seventh Generation. For all of our gallery needs, be it toilet paper or paper towels, cleaning solution or trash bags, we exclusively use Seventh Generation products. "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."
9. Packing materials. In every way possible, we reuse all packing materials. Not a cardboard box, piece of bubble wrap, nor those dreaded peanuts go to waste around here.
10. Recycling. Whatever can go into those bins, does. We recycle all of our office papers, cardboard boxes, newspaper, leftover bottles from openings, the list goes on.