Part of my absence in July has been my attention to many projects at work.  Plans for a series of lectures and a demonstration in October at the Savannah College of Art and Design have taken up large parts of my workday. Another exciting opportunity to contribute to the art world has developed over the last month.

Mark Gottsegen has become more involved in his venture to provide lectures and educational opportunity for the art community through his organization AMIEN; he asked me to take over his previous position as Chair of the American Society for Testing and Materials for Artists’ Materials (ASTM).

This will be a great personal challenge for me. In recent years, participation by manufacturer members has been slipping. While this may be a part of a natural cycle of interest in ASTM as the Artists’ Materials group moves from creating standards for some of the high visibility, large volume art materials to the smaller-revenue generators in a manufacturer’s product line. Regardless, a lot of work will need to be done to bring back some of the old familiar participants and attract a new generation of enthusiastic manufacturers. Exciting new products are coming into the marketplace, and both the consumer and manufacturer stand to benefit from participation in ASTM.

Education of the public is lacking. Many artists I contact do not know the work of ASTM. Others see it as “that group that does the health and safety thing.”  This “health and safety thing” is more commonly referred to in ASTM parlance as D4236.  This standard was a major undertaking by both ASTM and the Congress of the United States when they decided that art materials needed to have some point of official contact so that— if by some reason an art material was ingested or came into accidental contact with sensitive parts of the human body—a source of authority on the composition of the product could communicate with health care professionals to provide vital information on the composition and toxicity of the material in question. Other standards familiar to artists relate to the lightfastness of art materials. ASTM has provided manufacturers with a forum to come together to evaluate the durability of pigments. While many pigments remain unchanged when exposed to light over long periods of time, other pigments fade and pose problems for the artist. ASTM provided the means to test and evaluate the major pigments used for making art materials, and ASTM came up with a rating system that’s easy for an artist to understand.

My task, and the task of those who wish to help, will be to educate artists as to the importance of ASTM and how their involvement as smart consumers can influence the art materials industry. If the public desired new standards, ASTM could provide them.  This would forge a partnership—between the consumer who wants quality art materials and the manufacturer who could provide them.  In my time as an observer of the art materials industry, I’ve impressed overall with the genuine care and concern that manufacturers have toward their customers. I believe they want to sell good materials because it makes good business sense, and it’s the right thing to do.  Many manufacturers are artists as well; they accordingly feel a sense of responsibility to produce good quality art materials.