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Silicosis and Silica News - Return to Menu
Artists create safe environment
Ordinary supplies have risks if you don't take care
BY PAM HARBAUGH
FLORIDA TODAY
Good idea. Artist John Didier of Indialantic wears a dust mask as he works on a sealife sculpture at his studio. He keeps his Melbourne studio well-ventilated, among other precautions. "To me, it's obvious for health reasons," he says.
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Safety first
Avoid: Products that may generate an inhalation hazard. Examples include clay in dry form, powdered paints, glazes, pigments, wheat paste and aerosols (for example, spray paints, fixatives).
Substitute: Wet or liquid nonaerosol products. (If dry products are used, they should be mixed while young children are not present.)
Avoid: Hazardous solvent-based products. Examples include rubber cement and its thinner, turpentine and other paint thinners and solvent-based markers.
Substitute: Water-based glues, paints, markers.
Avoid: Materials that contain lead or other heavy metals. Examples include some paints, glazes and enamels.
Substitute: Products that do not contain heavy metals.
Avoid: Cold-water dyes or commercial dyes.
Substitute: Vegetable dyes (onion skins and so forth).
Avoid: Instant papier-maché, which may contain asbestos fibers or lead or other metals from pigments in colored printing inks.
Substitute: Papier-maché made from black and white newspaper and library or white paste (or flour and water paste).
Supply source: You can purchase safe products for grades K through 6 from www.oehha.org/education/art/artguide.html
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Breathe easy. Sandy Johnson of Melbourne sets her pastels in front of a device that filters potentially harmful dust from the air. Simple precautions can keep the dangers out of enjoying art.
Dust buster. Award-winning artist Sandy Johnson of Melbourne works on a pastel drawing while an air ionizer and filter keeps potentially harmful particles from floating through the air.
April 2, 2005 - Indialantic artist John Didier is smart. Working in clay, wood, silicone and resins for his sculptural furniture designs, he takes plenty of precautions.
He keeps his Melbourne studio well-ventilated, wears rubber gloves up to his elbows and uses dust masks and charcoal-filtered respirators, which are wrapped in plastic and stored in the studio refrigerator when he's not using them.
On rainy days, he doesn't even open a can of paint because he has to keep the doors shut to his studio. When his 8-year-old daughter visits, he keeps her well away from solvents and areas in which fumes might collect.
"To me, it's obvious for health reasons," he said. "It just makes total common sense."
Award-winning pastel artist Sandy Johnson of Melbourne said most people have no idea about dangers in art supplies. Even things as seemingly innocuous as pastel paints and charcoal can adversely affect an artist, not to mention family members -- especially children and older people -- who might be nearby.
Ralph Sanders, owner of the Art Supply of Melbourne, agrees. With supplies containing heavy metals, especially lead and cadmium, and solvents like turpentine that, when used incorrectly, can hasten the absorption of these metals into your skin, you need to "be smart, be safe and treat (art supplies) with respect."
That goes for professional artists, weekend dabblers and creative youngsters. While there's a definite risk, artists don't have to worry about it if they work with the materials safely, said Richard Hark, associate professor of chemistry at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa.
Hark, who teaches a chemistry of art class, urges artists to be aware of the potential problems and proceed accordingly. The people who have to be most concerned are those who are pregnant and young children.
"You are using materials that can be hazardous," he said. "You can work with them safely. But if you don't respect them, they won't be kind to you."
There are six heavy metals used to make pigments: cobalt, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, chromium and lead. Heavy metals "bioaccumulate," Hark said. That means they stay in your tissues. "You don't get rid of them."
Those heavy metals can be absorbed into the body either through direct contact, inhalation of particles or ingestion. Ingestion can happen if particles get on food or drink, or if the artist licks his brush to a point.
Take a look at any display of pigments containing cadmium and you see a huge "X" telling the user to beware. Paint containing other heavy metals comes with warning labels.
One of the most ubiquitous of the heavy metals is lead.
Called "flake white," lead was the most common white pigment used for centuries in old master paintings, Hark said. It was mixed with every other pigment.
"If you look at any old master painting, you would typically find a high lead content," he said. "This allows you to obtain an X-ray for a painting and learn how it was created."
In the 1920s, titanium dioxide became the major white pigment, Hark said.
However, you can still find lead primer at art supply stores, such as Art Supply of Melbourne. It is still used because of it is so opaque and heavy, it is an ideal primer for canvases.
Lead is also found in some solders used in stained glass work. Artists not wearing special masks and working without proper ventilation can inhale lead particles from the toxic fumes released in the soldering process.
While pastels may not themselves be toxic, the artist could inhale fine dust particles from it. A common practice with pastel artists is to smudge the applied pastel with a finger and blow away excess to get the desire effect. This can put the artist at greater risk of inhaling the powders.
Artists working on stone have the similar, but far worse situation. The fibers from stonework can build up into a condition called "silicosis." Former Merritt Island sculptor Catherine Ferrell developed silicosis from inhaling fine particles from marble.
Even clay, which contains silicates, can cause a problem when grinding a ceramic piece.
"Your body is able to expel a small amount of foreign material, but it cannot expel all," Hark said. "Some fibers are harder than others, like asbestos and silica. Once this gets into the aveoli of your lungs, it's kind of the same thing (as having) dust settling all over the furniture in your house. It coats things, reduces efficiency of getting oxygen into your lungs.
Nitric acid, an etching material used in printwork, can create nitrogen oxides when used with other elements, such as copper or zinc. These compounds can be hazardous, or, if sufficiently concentrated, lethal, Hark said.
"In general, it may knock you out or have a long-term effect."
Artists working with aluminum also need to watch for vapors released when cutting torches are used.
"Some of the aluminum gets vaporized, the vapor itself would initially be very hot. After it has a chance to cool, some of the aluminum can condense into very small particles -- air born aluminum -- you can inhale this."
When using a mask, make sure to see if it's the right mask for the job, Hark said.
Didier goes even further, making sure he handles the mask correctly. It is absorbing particles whether it's on his face or not. So if he isn't using it, he wraps it in plastic and sticks it in the refrigerator.
And, don't think that just putting on a respirator will do the trick. In some settings, like using certain paint in an enclosed space, a fresh air hose should be attached to the respirator.
The danger doesn't end when a project is completed.
Turpentine, mineral spirits and acetone used in cleanup can all release fumes, cause skin problems or get ingested. While these materials don't accumulate in the tissue, they can have a bad effect at the time of exposure, causing headaches or unconsciousness. Death would come only extreme cases, where a person is in a sealed area with a large amount of solvent fumes in the air, Hark said.
Sanders said solvent companies are now releasing warnings to artists not to use soap when using solvents to clean their brushes. It has been discovered that soap will hasten the absorption of the paint into skin.
But most important, artists should take care and not ignore the precautions because they fear it may impede creativity.
It took only 15 minutes of working with charcoal before Johnson came down with a headache, prompting her to pick up a dust mask, an air purifier and sit near an open window.
"The pastels I have are not toxic, but still, you get those dust particles in your lungs," she said. "But we forget, we get lazy."
Didier advises everyone who works with art supplies to read the label and pay attention to what it says.
And if you take an art class from Johnson, best give up the romantic notion of an artist swilling wine and tearing off hunks of bread while creating. She won't allow students to come to class with a drink unless it's in a sealed container. And food is not allowed.
"We have to remember the dangers," she said.
Contact Harbaugh at 242-3717 or pharbaug@flatoday.net.
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