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Artists from Brooklyn’s Genspace biomaterials studio presented work with natural pigments, algae yarn and alternative clays at a three-day Queens exhibition during Climate Week. The report describes their approaches, but does not provide details on the materials’ environmental performance or long-term viability.
Four artists connected to Genspace, a community biology lab in Brooklyn, presented work using natural pigments, algae yarn and alternative clays at a three-day exhibition in Queens during Climate Week. The show, titled “Source Material: Genspace Biomaterials Studio BioArt Exhibit,” focused on renewable and biodegradable materials as possible alternatives to synthetic art supplies.
The exhibition took place at Flux IV in Queens and featured artists from Genspace’s biomaterials studio. The source report frames the work as an exploration of how materials drawn from natural systems might shape artistic practice. It does not describe the materials as direct replacements for every conventional supply; instead, it says working with them can bring different creative challenges and alter how artists relate to the objects and processes involved in making art.
Among the works described, Becca Rodriguez’s “Puddle Pigments” (2026) used pigments made from mugwort, mulberry and serviceberry. The piece incorporated paper, water samples, test tubes and video. Kaitlyn Gillums made compost clay bowls, along with bracelets and a belt buckle from the material, according to the report and its photo caption.
The supplied report introduces four artists as participants, but the material provided here contains detailed descriptions of only Rodriguez and Gillums. It names algae yarn and alternative clays as exhibition materials, without identifying the artists or specific works associated with each. It also gives no technical data on sourcing, production or material performance.
Testing Materials Through Art
The exhibition brought attention to an issue relevant to artists who rely on store-bought supplies: how the materials used in making art relate to environmental concerns. The report says the artists explored renewable and biodegradable options in a community lab setting, linking hands-on material experiments with local ecosystems and scientific inquiry.
The work also presents sustainability as a creative question, rather than simply a matter of substituting one product for another. Natural pigments and compost clay may involve different processes and constraints. The exhibition’s documented works show examples of artists investigating those possibilities, but the report does not establish that these materials are less harmful across their full life cycle or suitable for broad commercial use.
From Local Sources to Pigment
Artists used plant, animal and mineral sources for color long before synthetic dyes and paint tubes emerged in Europe in the 19th century, according to the source report. It notes that familiar natural colorants include indigo, cochineal and turmeric, while many other organic sources remain available for exploration.
The report also cautions that natural pigments can carry cultural and symbolic meaning, including in Indigenous communities and artistic traditions across the Global South. That context matters when artists work with natural materials: the source and history of a pigment can be part of its significance, beyond its practical use in a studio.
““Such substitutions needn’t be one-to-one swaps.””
— Hyperallergic’s report on the exhibition
Questions Beyond the Gallery
The source material does not report how the materials perform over time, how much they cost, or whether they can be produced at a scale that would make them practical for wider use. It also gives no comparative environmental assessment of the materials against synthetic supplies. The exhibition documents artistic experiments, while their durability, availability and environmental effects remain unestablished in the supplied report.
Details about two of the four artists are also absent from the material provided. Although algae yarn and alternative clays are mentioned as part of the show, the report excerpt does not identify who worked with them or explain how those materials were made.
Further Work at Genspace
The report describes the exhibition and the artists’ material approaches, but does not announce a follow-up show, publication or research milestone. The next step for understanding the work would be further documentation of how the materials are sourced and made, how they behave in finished artworks, and what environmental trade-offs they involve. No timetable or planned testing is specified in the supplied source.
Key Questions
What was “Source Material: Genspace Biomaterials Studio BioArt Exhibit”?
It was a three-day exhibition at Flux IV in Queens during Climate Week, featuring artists associated with Brooklyn’s Genspace biomaterials studio.
Which alternative materials did the exhibition feature?
The report names natural pigments, algae yarn and alternative clays. It gives specific details about plant-based pigments in Becca Rodriguez’s work and compost clay objects by Kaitlyn Gillums.
What did Becca Rodriguez show?
Her work “Puddle Pigments” (2026) used mugwort, mulberry and serviceberry pigments on paper, alongside water samples, test tubes and video.
Does the report show that these materials are better for the environment?
No comparative environmental findings are provided. The report presents them as materials artists are exploring; it does not quantify their impact or establish that they outperform synthetic supplies.
Source: rss
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