The Art of Sustainability

Sustainability is about designing our society so it can last over time

We as OG industry people understand all too well the importance of sustainable right action. We work in the energy sector every day and we understand fully the need to have nonrenewable resources transformed into renewable sustainable solutions. We understand the importance of the implementation of new technology that reduces consumption, emissions and our carbon footprint. We also critically understand the need for “CREATIVE” sustaining systems and structures that will build the bridge to our techno-savvy, new era of energy.

Our sustainable solutions of tomorrow are being discovered right now, and in the coming days. Our job as OG industry people is to “lead the way” to a new energy era with powerful communication networks and systems.

Our thoughts, words and actions in our energy business works to contribute to the greater good. In this day and age, we are coming to realize and actualize on a global scale, and we have proven time and time again, that there’s no challenge that we can’t overcome when we band together in the service to something much larger.

Inspiration

Inspiration is what happens when we tap into a new way, a new invention, a new landscape. We live in inspirational times. No longer do we have a few key inventors doing their research, but rather we are creating a CULTURE of inventors in each and every one of us. We all carry an infinite number of ideas and solutions to everyday problems. It’s very clear to us, as energy industry people, that each one of us is the catalyst for sustainable results.

Just imagine a corporate culture that fosters an environment of creative leadership and innovation such that “everyone” could contribute and make a difference. In today’s world, sustainability is not only a global phenomenon—it’s a personal one as well. Each of us wants to be given the chance to solve non-sustaining issues and turn them into sustainable ones. Each of us wants to engage our current knowledge and by virtue of taking on a bigger sustainable game, learn more, contribute more and deliver more. To do that, we can no longer look outside of ourselves to blame the state of the world for where we are, but rather we must take full responsibility for what can be solved, what can be created, what can be invented, and what can be implemented—that will make a difference.

We are celebrating the corporations, countries and continents that are looking at sustainability and its importance as a number one global concern. We’ve passed survival mode; we’ve surpassed the industrial revolution, and we’ve now entered the digital era of personal self-expression and leadership. We’ve shifted from “me” to “we”, and in that light, we now have the opportunity for individuals in mass numbers to create the solutions for our sustainable future.

Artists hold the vision for the future

Sustainability is about designing our society so it can last over time. It’s become an individual self- expression that everyone is taking part in. Sustainability is an inquiry into the future. What will it look like? How do we get there from here? From engineers to architects, from business leaders to front-line drill workers, the “mind-set” needed for sustainability is to be: aware, accountable, conscious and creative.

For artist, optical illustrator, photographer and designer Clayton Didier, sustainability, fundamentally, is an “individual experience.” Clayton says, “In order to truly deliver on the global mission of a sustainable world, we must understand that it all starts within each of us. When we look into the future we have to be inspired by a world that works, that is healthy, aware and awake. I’ve created a series of art pieces that speak to the energy industry about concepts like reclamation, sustainable thought, and technological progress. My latest work titled, “Reclamation,” seen here, communicates the inner journey of awareness, and how each one of us is responsible and accountable for the state of the world and the creation of a world that sustains us.”

Reclamation in the oil and gas industry is a process designed and most often monitored by regulatory bodies to ensure our lands are restored to their original condition or better. In the Oil Sands of Canada, reclamation is an integral part of the development process. Clayton noticed that reclamation and environmental images were portrayed hand in hand, and most often not in a positive light. As he inquired into the problems of pollution and where they originate from, his inquiry revealed the answers in what is now displayed in his newest works titled, “Reclamation Landscapes.”

Re Claim Action (reclamation)

Clayton explains, “The landscape of reclamation was really about the process of reclaiming ourselves. The concepts I explored focused specifically on reclamation—not only as the restoring of our lands, but the restoring of our selves. The opportunity to reclaim ourselves in awareness of sustainable right action is, in my view, the single most important variable for creating the future we desire.

We are only confined by our own cultural parameters and to create something new, our cultural boundaries need to come down and new paradigms need to come in. My artwork is an invitation to viewers to consider the most profound question, “Who am I in the matter of our future?.”

The Works of Three

Clayton’s body of artwork includes three images that communicate his interpretation of sustainable solutions in the most striking ways. Taking upwards of 70 photos merged into one single photograph, Clayton communicates powerfully the inquiry of the fundamental answers to a sustainable world—the reclamation of us, individually and as a community.

The first of three is all about igniting “awareness” of ourselves. To influence self-reclamation, we would need to ask two important questions, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” Through that inquiry, we are led to an awareness of the important contribution each and every one of us is.

Clayton Didier says, “This artwork respresents mankind’s journey into the realization that we are “one world” with “one unified mission”, and that in order to even begin to take new action, we would have to breakdown old thoughts and ideas and let something new in. Here this piece is called “Conversion.” Likened to the St. Paul by Caravaggio, the man has fallen from grace. It is my symbolic representation of a new thought order coming into being. Old ideas fall, so that new may come in.”

The way we currently think has us where we currently are and, therefore, a new level of thought is needed to carry us into a sustainable new energy future.

The second image communicates the realization that when we become self-aware, self-reflective and we fully understand the impact we have on others and the world, we are knocked off our high horse in a realization that the world as we knew it, is not the truth. Rather self reclamation becomes available when we fully see the landscape of life, whereby every word, action and result can create sustainability or disintegrate sustainability—it’s up to us!

The final image is Clayton’s celebration of self-reclamation, which strikingly communicates the process of ascension into a new thought order. A realization that we are powerful creators of the future, that everything we do makes a difference, and that as individuals, we can clearly create our path to a peaceful and sustainable world.

Offered in strategic energy locations in Alberta, Clayton’s Reclamation series will be available for the energy industries inspiration. Catch it if you can because Clayton Didier’s work is truly ”The Art of Sustainability.”

C.T. Didier, Reclamation Landscapes series 2012 Metalic Print On view at Clayton’s Fall exhibit November 2nd, 2012, at The DaDe Art & Design Lab in Calgary, Alberta.

Contact the gallery for more details info@dadegallery.com