PROJECT DEVELOPMENT NAOMI LAWRENCE

2024/2025 Project Development Artist Naomi Lawrence

Originally from England, UK, the self-described fiber artist is based in New York City. Her work has been installed in public parks, educational facilities and public spaces throughout the city but is most visible in her own community, the Northern Manhattan neighborhoods of East and Central Harlem.

The artist works primarily with acrylic yarn to create large scale 2-Dimensional art installations. Her work is freeform, she does not follow a pattern. Designing from photos of nature which are often enlarged so that she can reproduce the subtle changes in color and texture that add a depth of field to her 2D work. Her monumental installations take several months to produce but are usually approved by the city to stay in place for up to one year becoming part of the urban landscape. They are then washed, restored and often gifted to have a second life in a new location. In 2014, the artist who studied Floral Design at the University of Arts in London, created Blue Iris, a site-specific art installation that endeared her to East Harlem residents who embraced the work as a gift of flowers to the community. The artist has been creating floral and nature inspired installations ever since.

Superbloom will be street facing, and adjacent to the elevated, Metro North train track that imposes its presence on the neighborhood. The mural is rendered in a scale that is in response to the built environment. The individual blooms, at their smallest will be 5’ in height with several much larger blooms that re-define this public street corner and field as a place for humans.