Tips & Suggestions
The Vision of Sustainability Competition Team wishes to offer some useful tips and examples when considering the design of your piece.
Speaking to concept originality
The concept that you explore need not be entirely original (i.e. you may wish to explore a new technology or innovation that already exists in the field of sustainable development) but you must apply/arrange these concepts in a new way that speaks to Harvard campus sustainability in particular. Any work that you use and manipulate (i.e. photographs that someone else has taken, a design idea borrowed) must be cited appropriately.
Representing Artistic Imagination and Technical Innovation
We are hoping to mine the world's best practices and see how they might apply to Harvard campus design, operations, and daily use as well as apply individual imaginations in this realm. Your end goal may be to evoke the emotions/impressions of a viewer, or speak to the innovative concepts on a more technical level, or a combination of the two!
Media and Form
Entries will be judged holistically within their own media form, recognizing the limitations and possibilities of each form when comparing it to other entries. This is not to say that the judges will be dividing entries up into media categories to determine prize winners from each category; rather we would merely like to specify that judges will be looking for intelligent, visionary concepts as well as judging upon the artist's skills and use of his/her particular form.
Examples for Inspiration
The Vision of Sustainability Art and Design Team wanted to provided a few examples of artwork that encapsulate an idea or theme of sustainability for a little guidance and inspiration. Please note that these examples do not necessarily connect sustainability issues to Harvard University, as we would like your entries to do. We have provided these in the hope that they may serve merely as a guide for the breadth of options and approaches one might take in exploring the topic of environmental sustainability through various media.
Flash Animation
Have fun with flash, and make an impact at the same time...
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"Neglected Sky: A Perspective on Global Warming" by John Cooney, 1st place winner of the Citizens for Global Solutions Flash Movie Contest. |
Photography
Design a meaningful new image or use existing images in a new way...
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| From the PageSoutherland Page Architectural, Engineering, and Interior Design website. |
Photo image in a presentation by William G. Reed AIA, Natural Logic. |
Demonstrate a before and after shot of implementing an innovative (or age old) sustainable technology...
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| Photo image in a presentation by William G. Reed AIA, Natural Logic. |
Cartoon
Approach the topic of sustainability in a funny and light way...
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| "Prehistoric Policy" by Laura Hirner '05 |
Design
Present a professional design for a sustainable Harvard...
| Sustainable Initiatives, Dockside Green website . |
Sculpture
Celebrate the spirit of nature and systems theory through sculpture, or reuse materials to make a statement...
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| "Environmental Sculpture", the work of sculptor Herb Goldman, www.herbgoldman.com. | "Falls", the work of sculptor Janet Nolan, featured on the Art in Context website. |
Child's Artwork
See the issues of sustainability through a child's eye...
| Winner in the Green Week children's painting competition, 10 year old Ivor Garcia Villa of Spain, featured on ENS Newswire. |








