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A
word with
Naomi Dagen Bloom
 It may seem curious but here I am, an
environmental artist who was never a gardener!
Not unlike many city-dwellers, I have always enjoyed looking at the landscape, admiring flowers, walking through woods. Unlike many urban folks, however, I’ve always had a heightened concern about nature in the city, how we could bring more of it within and around our sidewalks and streets. Living in a large house in Baltimore for 30 years, I enjoyed the old black walnut tree that gave wonderful shade in the hot summers, the hundreds of daffodils bursting out in the spring. Oh, I did a bit here and there—reduced the lawn area with perennial garden, ground cover. But mostly the pleasure came from living within it, watching seasons change, leaves fall. My work as a psychotherapist was very demanding. For relaxation our family would go to the ocean. Once again, my pleasure was in observation since I am not a swimmer. This is where the natural world led me to work as an artist. Picking up shells on the beach, I was drawn to those that were weathered, not perfect. Joining shells with found objects, hardware, and beads into neck pieces was the beginning. Brought up with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility to work for change, my pleasure with the attractiveness of weathered shells soon led to concern about eroding east coast beaches. When you know me, you discover that the personal is always political. Return to New York City At retirement, my husband and I had the chance to move back to where we’d started—New York City. Though I missed the trees around my house, the possibility of a more stimulating setting for retirees—and the reality that our children had moved on to other places—made this an exciting challenge. What I did not realize was that I’d taken my recycling life in Baltimore for granted. Now my space was an apartment on the 21st floor. No more backyard compost pile: just a chute at the end of the hall for garbage. This really disturbed me. My first response was freezing garbage to take to a woman who collected kitchen waste at a green market in downtown Manhattan. The Department of Sanitation gave her the use of an empty lot for composting—with red wiggler worms. Thanks Christine Datz-Romero, eisenia fetida and I became acquainted. The next move was a natural: they came to live in my apartment. It was very satisfying to bring garden creatures into my living room, red wiggler worms who’d do their small part in lowering my city’s enormous landfill. That was 1995. Later that year, my essay, "Composting in Manhattan," described my transformation from observer of nature to active participant. Describing my delight with finding a post-retirement activity that stopped conversations at parties, the piece caught the attention of a woman who arranged poetry readings in small cafes. The one for my debut was a midtown Korean deli where I was glad to have a microphone to be heard over the rattle of plates and trays. The audience was very amused. The Wonders of Kitchen Composting
Where else does my compost go? Many street trees in New York are grateful for my gifts as well as friends with house plants. I only maintain one red geranium. Composting at Queens Botanical Garden
In this most diverse borough of the City, I had the opportunity to work with Patty Kleinberg, Compost Project Director, who always encourages her Master Composter students to think of new ways to present their message. Over 18 months, Patty and I worked continuously with the community—a Buddhist temple, Chinese restaurant, Worm-Ware© Parties, Knitting One Red Worm in the Garden. Two art grants, The Puffin Foundation and Thanks Be To Grandmother Winifred Foundation, supported this installation and performances. On the Events page of www.cityworm.com
the Exhibit Schedule of the Museum can be viewed and an article that
appeared just before it opened. (Soon images from the show, reactions to
it will be on the website too.) The opening featured Mary Appelhof, whom I
call the worm queen, famous for her work as science educator and author of
"Worms And that is my goal. It is so easy in a city with tall buildings, little earth underfoot, for people to lose sight of their connection with the Earth and their responsibility for its care. My energy is directed to bringing together Art and environmental education in a manner that is both accessible and non-judgmental: let’s have a good time with doing good. My particular target group is people who are about to retire—or already have. Will they add kitchen composting to their schedule? I feel sure there are folks out there who’d like to join me and become activists in a troupe of "Dirty-Handed Warriors." Together we can share this easy, necessary, and inspirational endeavor with our friends, our grandchildren. We are all artists. Articles in upcoming books: "Worms in the Big
Apple," in One Can Make A Difference, "Knit One Red Worm," in Knitlit: Sweaters & Their Stories, edited by Linda Roghaar Not to be missed—lively photos of Scott Simon and Ketzel Levine of NPR Weekend Edition with Worm-Ware©...at www.npr.org/programs/talkingplants And, you can still knit a worm! Check out my www.cityworm.com/knit to see instructions...When is This Dirt Museum coming to your neighborhood...is the message on my answering machine! Read Naomi Dagen Bloom's Biography on her web site.
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What a path since then! How many ways could one explore
the wonders of kitchen composting? So far, I have developed performances
and installations both in New York and Mexico—all toward getting YOU to
kitchen compost. If a light-hearted take would not convince, then
what about these wearable books—a small package of dry compost, a quote
from Hamlet on how we are all made from the earth, enclosed in a plastic
container left from the over-packaging of bras...hung from an old pair of
pantyhose. Or beads made from my very own compost mixed with
"real" beads.. I’ll even show you how to make your own compost
objects—buttons, book covers, endless possibilities. And then there is
the world’s smallest kitchen composter, Worm-Ware©. Demonstrating how
it is possible to begin this practice with just 10 worms, I put on
Worm-Ware© Parties where you get to take home one tiny box wrapped in a
pretty remnant (to keep it dark for the guys/gals inside) and begin your
own personal adventure with red wigglers—and healing the earth.
On a much larger scale, in October 2001, "
Eat My Garbage." During my performance, "Why Am I
Knitting Here?" audience members were invited to wear one of my 150 knitted
red worm representations and were amazed that more than 100 fiber artists
worldwide contributed fabric worms to the installation. As Venetia Lannon,
Director of Composting for New York City’s Department of Sanitation has
said, "While many New Yorkers are skeptical about bring the
composting process inside, Ms. Bloom’s work boldly
and provocatively gets people to take notice of the possibility."