Where to Find Sustainable + Affordable Art Supplies

No need to purchase expensive photo, video and AV gear! The Media Resources Centre (Room D1310) at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) provides equipment for media-based projects, class workshops, art documentation, exhibitions and more. (Pro tip: need batteries? Ask at the counter! They usually have a bin of used batteries left behind by previous borrowers).

Visit their webpage to find hours, contact info, equipment lists, and everything else you need to get started.

ECU’s Tool Checkout + Material Resale (Room C1272) is a campus-wide service offering a variety of tools for short-term loan, from clamps and cleaning supplies to saws, exhibition kits and a huge range of other goodies. They also offer consumable materials for purchase including canvas, brushes, adhesives, containers, fasteners, paper, safety gear, recycled materials.

Visit their webpage to find hours, contact info, equipment lists, and everything else you need to get started.

ECU’s Digital Output Centre (DOC) is your one-stop-shop for all things print related. Their expert staff can help you discover how to bring your next incredible project to life.

Students, staff and faculty can submit digital files for output at a reasonable cost to several different devices: wide-format inkjet and toner printers, colour and black & white laser printers, and a vinyl cutter. High resolution scanning services are also available.

Visit their webpage to learn more!

Opus Art Supplies

With services including printing, framing and retail, Opus Art Supplies has been a mainstay for BC artists for more than 50 years. And ECU students receive a 15 per cent discount! Visit them at one of their locations including on Granville Island and in Vancouver’s Downtown core.



Rath Art Supplies

The small but mighty Rath Art Supplies is just minutes up Main Street from ECU campus. In addition to their thoughtfully curated retail selection, the Rath team can create custom canvases and panels to your specifications. ECU students also enjoy a 10 per cent discount, including on their already-discounted Golden paint products (which cover acrylics, Qor watercolours and Williamsburg oils).


Urban Source

One of the oldest business in Mount Pleasant, Urban Source has been serving the community for more than 30 years! The small retail store focuses on sustainability and reuse, sourcing diverse and unusual manufacturing discards as well as a great selection of traditional art supplies and craft materials.

Visit their website to learn more!

The ECU community is most fortunate to have an incredible group of staff and faculty members at the ECU Library + Archives who maintain a rich suite of resources available to help you build a more sustainable creative practice.

The Library’s Supplies Swap is a space for donating and accessing usable art and design supplies. Students, staff and faculty staff can donate new or gently used supplies, or find materials to inspire and complete projects without having to purchase them new. Find it in the Library or ask a staff member for assistance. 


The folks at the Library have also assembled curated entrees to their collections of books on subjects including 
Sustainable Textiles + Mending and 
Sustainable Design.

Meanwhile, you can find the Library’s Sustainability Resources Collection downstairs on the first floor. The collection includes a rotating selection of books and other items related to sustainable art practices, climate action, gardening, plants and animals, Indigenous perspectives on sustainability and land-based resources. You can also drop off recycling like soft plastics and pens, so long as the waste is produced on campus.

But these are just the tip of the iceberg! Search their collections or reach out to a staff member to learn more.

The Library also coordinates the Buy Nothing Emily Carr University Community group on Facebook where ECU community members can share objects and materials they no longer need. They ask that all exchanges take place person-to-person, rather than leaving materials in the Library for pick-up.

In addition to its incredible resources, the Library also manages a Recycling + Re-Use spreadsheet. This resource indicates where on campus you can find or leave leftover materials, ranging from common art and construction materials to electronic waste.

Did you know that artists like celebrated community members Russna Kaur, Mark Johnsen, Sara-Jeanne Bourget, Mimi Gellman and Caitlin ffrench encourage students to literally use the materials in their immediate environment to create paintings, prints, drawings and other artworks?



Russna Kaur

Russna, whose monumental paintings often include more than a half dozen individual materials, encourages her students to raid their pantry, closets or cutlery drawer for new tools and materials to push their practices forward.

“Painting isn’t just about using paint and a paintbrush or a pallet knife,” Russna says. “Why can't you use a fork to make a mark? Why can't you use a whisk? Or paint on an old bed sheet that you have lying around? Why can't you mix sesame seeds into your paint? Or salt or soil or sand?” 


Sara-Jeanne Bourget and Mark Johnsen

In 2024, Sara-Jeanne and Mark created a research project exploring the hidden meanings of discarded objects. Titled Piling/Upon, the project overturns the assumption that new, expensive materials inherently have more value. It also spotlights how discarded objects tell stories about places, people and processes. 


Mimi Gellman

That same spirit of honouring the stories of found materials animates artist and ECU faculty member Mimi Gellman’s DIY brush-making initiative.

She says building your own tools underscores how working without commercially produced materials is an opportunity rather than a barrier.

“Not being able to rely on art supply stores provides us the opportunity to extend our abilities to problem solve, to be creative and more self-reliant,” she says. “When we have less of the access we’re accustomed to, what possibilities are opened up?” 


Caitlin ffrench

Did you know that award-winning artist, educator and ECU alum + faculty member Caitlin ffrench wrote a whole book dedicated to wildcrafting pigments for creative use? Titled Gathering Colour: Foraging Magic & Making Art from the World Around You, the book details a quarter century of Caitlin’s hands-on research into making inks, paints and dyes from natural pigments found in plants and other organic and earth-based materials.

These ancient processes offer a sustainable and compelling alternative to using store-bought paints, inks and dyes. You can find a copy of Gathering Colour in the ECU Library

Many, many ECU faculty and staff members have a vast wealth of insight to share, whether it be on places to find specific art materials or how to think outside the box regarding what you can use to create.

Have a question? Don’t be afraid to ask!

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