art movements

Read the label.
Always use products that are appropriate for the individual user. Children in grade six and lower and adults who may not be able to read and understand safe labeling should use only non-toxic materials.
Do not use products that have passed their expiration date.
Do not eat, drink or smoke while using art and craft materials.
Wash up after use - Clean yourself and your supplies.
Never use products for skin painting or food preparation unless indicated that the product is meant to be used in this way.
Do not transfer art materials to other containers - you will lose the valuable safety information that is on the product package.

Additional procedures to follow when using products that have cautionary labeling:

Keep products out of reach of children.
Keep your work area clean.
Vacuum or wet mop dust; don't sweep it.
Don't put your brush, pen, etc. in your mouth.
Keep your work area well ventilated; make sure you have a system that takes out old air and brings in new air.
Avoid skin contact and eating these materials. Keep materials out of your eyes and mouth.
Use any and all protective equipment specified on the label, such as gloves, safety glasses, and masks.
Use a mask or globes that are impermeable to whatever product you are using; the wrong type of equipment could do as much or more harm than using no equipment at all!
Protect any cuts or open wounds by using the appropriate gloves.
Mix and handle certain dry materials in a locally-exhausting hood or sealed box.
Spray apply certain materials only in a locally-exhausting spray booth with filters.
Do not mix different food-safe glazes together because the balance of ingredients in the mixed glaze will be disrupted and the resulting mixture may not be dinnerware safe.
Carefully follow suggested disposal methods.

Procedures to follow when a product has a flammability warning:

Do not store or use product near heat, sparks or flame.
Do not heat above the temperature specified on the label.
Use explosion-proof switches and an exhaust fan with an explosion-proof motor, if specified on the label.

Product Safety Organizations

Art & Creative Materials Institute
The Art & Creative Materials Institute, Inc. (ACMI) is an international association, composed of a diverse and involved membership, and is recognized as the leading authority on art and craft materials. Founded in 1936, ACMI was organized to assist its members in providing the public with art and craft materials for children and artists that are non-toxic. All products in the program undergo extensive toxicological evaluation and testing before they are granted the right to bear the ACMI certification seals.
American Society for Testing and Materials
ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world-a trusted source for technical standards for materials, products, systems, and services. Known for their high technical quality and market relevancy, ASTM International standards have an important role in the information infrastructure that guides design, manufacturing and trade in the global economy.
Information Toxicology International, Inc.
Info. Tox. International, Inc. is a toxicological and environmental health and safety consulting company with special emphasis on exposure assessments, environmental audits and toxicity/safety evaluations of consumer products such as toys, hygiene products, art materials, cosmetics, tattoos and fragrances.
U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products-such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals-contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.
Recalls
To provide better service in alerting the American people to unsafe, hazardous or defective products, six federal agencies with vastly different jurisdictions have joined together to create http://www.recalls.gov-a "one stop shop" for U.S. Government recalls.

Information on Art Materials Artinfonet-www.artinfonet.com Created by the National Art Materials Trade Association (NAMTA) to encourage individuals to experiment and explore the world of art materials and to serve as a clearinghouse to consumers for information on the safe use of creative and fine art materials.

Art Trivia
did you know... Gothic was originally a term of criticism among the Italian Renaissance artists who coined it. The term implied that, compared to superior classical buildings, the Gothic medieval cathedrals were so crude that only a Goth could produce them. By indirectly condemning the Goths, the Italian architects revived an old hatred. The southward migration of these warring, loathsome German barbarians in the fifth century A.D. had contributed to the decline of ancient Rome.

American artist, Charles Wilson Peale named most of his 17 children after famous artists - including Rembrandt, Titian, Rubens, and Raphael.

Before Grant Wood became an artist and created his classic "American Gothic" in 1930, he worked as a farmer and a silversmith.

Cosmetics queen Helena Rubenstein provided the money to help artist Marc Chagall and his wife flee the Nazis and move to New York City in 1941.
During the Renaissance era, artists could not show woman's toes or bare feet in their paintings.
James McNeill Whistler's best known painting, often called "Whistler's Mother," is actually titled "Arrangement in Black and Gray: The Artist's Mother."
Glue dates back to prehistoric times. Artists once mixed colorings with raw eggs, dried blood, and plant juices to make sticky paints for cave murals. Later, ancient Egyptians and other peoples learned to make stronger glues by boiling animal bones and hides.
King Francis I of France is reported to have paid master artist Leonardo da Vinci 4,000 gold crowns for his masterpiece "Mona Lisa," but the king did not get immediate possession. Da Vinci kept the painting hanging on a wall of his chateau to the day he died.
The four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are all named after artists and/or sculptors. However, Donatello does not occur in the same time period as Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael.
Renaissance artist Michelangelo's last name was Buonarroti.
The first American publisher of valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland. During the 1870s, her elaborate lace cards were purchased by the wealthy, as they cost a minimum of 5 dollars - some sold for as much as 35 dollars. Mass production eventually brought prices down, and the affordable "penny valentine" became popular with the lower classes.
Claude Monet's 100,000-franc winnings in the French lottery in 1891 allowed him to quit his job as a messenger and try his luck at what he really enjoyed--painting.
Paul Gaugin, the French painter, was a laborer on the Panama Canal. About 25,000 workers died during its construction.
Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali had his wife pose for the face of Christ in his painting "Sacrament of the Last Supper."
The largest painting measures 92,419 square feet and was completed by ID Cultur in Amsterdam, Netherlands on August 14, 1996.
While known as a painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer, Leonard da Vinci was the first to record that the number of rings in the cross section of a tree trunk revealed its age. He also discovered that the width between the rings indicated the annual moisture.
Van Gogh only sold one painting during his entire lifetime. The painting was called "Red Vineyard At Arles."
The painting "Whistler's Mother" was once sold in a pawn shop.
The first eraser was a balled-up piece of bread.
Salvador Dali was kicked out of art school.
Grandma Moses didn't start painting until she was in her 70's.
Pablo Picasso's career lasted seventy-eight years, from 1895 until his death in 1973.
The painting, "American Gothic" depicts the sister and the dentist of artist Grant Wood as rural farm folk.
Leonardo da Vinci earned a substantial part of his income from banner painting. The fabric banners were used for festivals and advertising and not considered art; his fine art was done on wood panels.
President Reagan was the first to proclaim 8 ½" x 11" as the official standard size for paper in the United States.
The color Indian Yellow was originally made from crystallized urine collected from cows fed on mango leaves.
The color "Mummy" was originally made from ground Egyptian mummies. It was a mixture of bone ash and asphaltum. Once the grisly truth about "mummy" was known, Van Dyke Brown was created to replace it.
The color Carmine was originally made from powdered cochineal beetles.
Source: ArtInfoNet.com

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