Rag Drive for Drawing & Painting

Rags covered in paint
Monday, November 25, 2019 - 10:45am

To reduce the volume of hazardous waste produced at OCAD U as well as reduce the cost of its safe disposal, Drawing & Painting are shifting from paper towel brush cleaning to cloth rag brush cleaning.

Over 2018-19, a study was undertaken by students and staff to find ways to cut down on OCAD U’s hazardous waste. Soiled paper towels made up around half of the University’s hazardous waste! Shifting to cloth rag brush cleaning in Drawing & Painting is meant to encourage reuse of scrap material that might otherwise go to landfill.

To aid in this transition, we will be placing storage containers in each studio to hold upcycled cloth material for students to use as painting rags.

This Drawing and Painting initiative is in collaboration with Safety & Security, Facilities & Studio Services, and the Office of Diversity, Equity & Sustainability Initiatives.

Sustainability Initiatives by Student Researchers at OCAD U: Library Research Wednesdays

Promotional image with event title, project titles and speaker names, flanked by a drawings of a laptop and a book
Wednesday, January 9, 2019 - 12:45pm

On January 23rd, we welcome Victoria Gonzalez and Priscilla Lee to share their experiences of participating in field placements at OCAD University with a focus on sustainability.

Project descriptions:

Reducing Hazardous Waste in OCAD U Studios with Victoria Gonzales
Hazardous wastes are wastes that can pose a threat to health, safety and the environment. Plus, its disposal is expensive! OCAD U is trying to reduce the amount of inappropriate materials that end up in our hazardous waste bins (i.e. coffee cups, paper towels, and rags). This project aims to help studio users minimize their production of hazardous waste, encourage the use of less toxic products, and steer them towards proper reuse, recycling, and waste sorting. Victoria used their design skills to help conduct user research involving hardware prototypes, develop new organizing structures to keep the various bins easy to find and in the expected places, and create a poster series to communicate the initiative.

Victoria Gonzales is an emerging Industrial Designer from Chile with a passion for interior, health and sustainable design.

Sustainable Initiatives at Copy and Print Services with Priscilla Lee
Copy and Print Services provides the OCAD U community with its copying and digital output needs. This includes operating the Digital Print Shop and managing the University’s networked black and white printers, and its fleet of multifunction copiers. From pulp to print, paper is the lifeline of their operation. In this project, Priscilla worked to develop a sustainable and responsible outlook on this lifeline and make an impact in reduction.

Priscilla Lee is an Industrial Design student with an interest in human-centred design.

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Both field placement projects were made possible through the collaboration of the Centre for Emerging Artist and Designers and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Sustainability Initiatives.

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Research Wednesdays is a speaker series presented by the OCAD U Library. It's a forum for anyone (undergrad or graduate students, staff, or faculty) to present in a casual, supportive environment about research activities, collections and more. We apply a broad definition of research which includes a variety of activities within the domains of art, design, libraries and archives. This event is open to all members of the OCAD U community as well as the general public.

Interested in presenting about your own research experiences? Contact Daniel Payne at dpayne@ocadu.ca.

Venue & Address: 
Learning Zone, 113 McCaul Street, Level 1, also accessible from 122 St. Patrick Street
Email: 
dpayne@ocadu.ca
Cost: 
Free