Reducing cost and ensuring environmental sustainability: Palm kernel expeller as an alternative sculpture material for casting in Ghana

The materials for sculpture in Ghana have always been clay, wood, cement, resin, and silicon. These materials have their limitations. Also, some students do not have the financial strength to purchase them because they are expensive. This situation slows down the pace in the teaching and learning of practical activities in the Sculpture discipline in most Ghanaian educational institutions. Owing to this, the researchers explored the possibility of experimenting with local materials in the home regions of students which could have otherwise been a nuisance in the environment as alternative sculptural materials. The researchers adopted the Double Helix of Praxis Exegesis Model, which is an arts-based method undergird in the eco-innovation theory to investigate the possibility of using palm kernel which is abundant in the Anloga Sobolo community, Kumasi, Ghana as an alternative material for modeling, casting, and carving. The palm kernel expellers were prepared by collecting the kernel, cracking, firing, milling, and cooking to extract the oil, and then the expeller. The palm kernel expellers were mixed with selected binders to produce aesthetically pleasing modeled, cast, and carved works. Findings revealed that palm kernel expeller is non-toxic, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective alternative material for sculpture. The study contends that teachers and students in the sculpture discipline in the various Senior High and tertiary educational institutions in Ghana should constantly explore waste local materials as alternative materials for practical activities in sculpture to reduce cost and to serve as a tool for ensuring environmental sustainability.