New funding supports research in sustainable art and design practices

October 10, 2025

OCAD University researchers have received $110,584 in research infrastructure funding through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) to strengthen capacity to conduct cutting-edge research in sustainable art and design practices with a focus on redefining material use and experimenting with biomaterials to reduce environmental impact.

The funding supports two initiatives: $73,873 to enhance the University’s Sustainable Colour and $36,711 to establish the new Bio Art and Living Materials Lab.

These investments will expand the equipment and spaces researchers need to develop sustainable materials, experiment with living organisms in art and design practices, and explore new approaches to ecological and climate solutions.

SUSTAINABLE COLOUR LAB

Launched in the fall of 2024, the Sustainable Colour Lab is using the new funds to create a specialized space for exploring and developing sustainable methods of colour production. This work aligns with the growing movement in art and design to reduce environmental impacts while integrating Indigenous knowledge and practices into material innovation.

The lab is co-led by Associate Professor Nicole Collins, Assistant Professor Julia Rose Sutherland and Associate Professor Lauchlan Reid.

According to the lab’s CFI submission, through a blend of scientific colour research and Indigenous ways of knowing, this initiative aims to revolutionize how artists and designers understand and engage with materials and investigate new questions about material colour.

A primary focus will be the investigation of sustainable production and distribution methods for small batch pigment, paint, ink and dye productions developing methods and techniques within an interdisciplinary community of artists, designers, students and scholars.

This will involve ethical sourcing of pigments and materials, including collaborations with Indigenous partners like Beam Paints, to foster land-based pedagogies and critical cultural inquiries, integrating art, design, science, and technology, supporting replicable, small-scale production methods.

The lab will also facilitate workshops, lectures, and exhibitions, and establish a comprehensive database, a summer residency starting in spring 2025, a pigment and dye library, and a website.

BIO-ART AND LIVING MATERIALS LAB

Canada is currently undergoing a renaissance of research into biologically inspired materials research and the use of biological organisms in material synthesis processes, especially critical at a time when society is looking for solutions to the current climate crisis. And OCAD U is actively engaged in this field of research.

The JELF funding will be used to establish a new Bio Art and Materials Lab, which will promote creative practice and sustainability research at the intersection of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, sustainable materials exploration, biomaterials and technology development, and collaborative research.

“The lab will support the Indigenization of research practices through both traditional experimental methodologies. This research bridges art, cultural production, decolonization in the institution, and environmental stewardship,” explains Associate Dean, Faculty of Art, Natalie Majaba Waldburger, one of the lab’s researchers.

Waldburger says the lab’s research connects to OCAD U’s ongoing investment in land-based learning infrastructure, including the new sacred fire pit in Butterfield Park, which provides a site for ceremony, community gathering, and research linked to fire-based material practices and sacred fire keeping in both Indigenous and contemporary artmaking.

“The lab’s explorations of natural processes, such as tanning, burning, and biomaterial growth, connect these elemental relationships to Indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems,” she says.

The lab will accelerate and greatly expand the range of research conducted by Waldburger, Associate Professor Peter Morin and Associate Professor Dr. Ian Clarke.

NT5