((PKG)) YARN BOMB
((Banner: Blooms in East Harlem))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))
((Writer/Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 6 female; 2 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
My name is Naomi Lawrence, also known as NaomiRAG. I'm a fiber artist,
yarn bomber and I live here in East Harlem.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, right now, we are on Second Avenue, 109th street. This is a fence I've
used before. I'm going to install these. They were somewhere else and they
got taken down. So, I'm going to put them up here and see how long they
last.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 1))
This is amazing.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Aw, thanks. Thank you. Oh, it's so good to see you. She got so big! Do you
like…..
((Speaker 2))
My grandma, mine, she does everything like these.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah?
((Speaker 2))
Yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Is that grandma?
((Speaker 3))
Yeah, my mom.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Oh really?
((Speaker 2))
Yeah, she does it.
((Speaker 3))
And I.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
You do it, too? You can make this, yeah.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, I was originally from Liverpool and I moved to London in my twenties
and then found myself in Cambridge with my husband when he was at
seminary. He was offered a job in Spanish Harlem. So, we
emigrated here in 2014 with our two children.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So right now, we're on the corner of 104th Street and Lexington
Avenue and I live just around the corner and this is Lexington
Academy and we've used this fence many, many times. The
principal asked me to do a monarch butterfly because the school
is full of immigrants and he wanted to respond to how beautiful
migration is.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, we installed the monarch in November and it's now been ten
months. It's pretty grubby and it's actually started to get a little
baggy. I'm going to have to move across. I'm hoping she's going
to go somewhere like Mexico. She was going to go to Mexico,
but then COVID. I hope she can finish her life somewhere in
Central America and do the actual path that monarchs actually
follow. But she's got plenty of life left in her. So, just fingers
crossed, hope for the best.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 4))
Woo!
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Woo!
((Speaker 4))
Woo!
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Oh my God. Just look how dirty my hands are.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
It's taken me a while to say that I make art because at first I was
just yarn bombing and covering things in the street with yarn. But
I do it because it makes people smile. I do it because it brings
people joy. And it makes me happy too.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, this is El Barrio Loves You. I think, El Barrio Loves You.
((Speaker 4))
El Barrio Loves You.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
We put this up by Metropolitan Hospital during COVID. Six
different people work on this, five women and one guy, all who
live in this part of East Harlem.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
You know, I'm going to put these two together to save zip ties.
((Speaker 5))
Oh, okay. Yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
And we just wanted a message to the hospital to say, you know,
"We support you. You're having a rough time. We're all in this
together. Thank you for your hard work."
((NATS))
((Speaker 5))
Did you bring any…..
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
There's yarn and needles. I'll show you where the needles are.
So, you have no idea?
((Speaker 5))
I don't know what I'm doing.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
It’s the usual story. Plus two.
((Speaker 5))
Do you have.....
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
I have this color yarn. You can just like make it up.
((Speaker 5))
Okay yeah, yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
My ears are sore. Okay, so this is crochet and I would consider
myself to be a crochet fiber artist who uses the street as my
gallery, I guess. I'm a very slow knitter and I use knitting to make
garments, but it would take way too long to do this in knitting, so.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, well, I've had 30 contributors to send these flowers and, oh
this one was Flo. But people from like all over, they take some of
the patterns I’ve sent them.
((Speaker 6))
This one’s really nice.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, that was one of the patterns I sent. That's clematis. But
some people just sort of did whatever they felt like and this is
what survived. So, I'm going to need help to sew it together and
then obviously, to pull it up. And it's going to take a couple of
hours to pull it up.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, that was Christie. I've got Kay here. So, I guess, I'll just put
these on afterwards. So…..
((Speaker 6))
You should glue them on there.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Glue them on! I think there will be a bit of gluing.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 7))
I teach here. I teach 7th and 8th grade Special Ed
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
and we love this and we're starting to put it into the curriculum. I
think it's cool.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber)))
Oh, you are? Oh, that's wonderful.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, we'll all be set for Sunday, five o'clock I think people said they
could make.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So for years, I’ve worked on the large flowers on my own, but I’ve
been very keen to work in collaboration with others from the
neighborhood, women who were either born here or from Puerto
Rico, Dominican Republic or who’ve emigrated here just like me.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
And it's much easier as long as you don't sew it to the grass.
Yeah, your O's are round. They're great.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
And then we'll get some funny pictures again, like we did last
time.
((Speaker 7))
Cool.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
That's always fun at the end of it, to have some silly pictures.
Okay. Let’s just check.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, they're all supposed to be 40 inches [1 meter]. So, I think,
we're pretty much almost done.
((Speaker 8))
Yes, one more, I think.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Okay. Just finish that row then. Thank you. Yeah, it's great that
you're involved.
((Speaker 8))
Thank you.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
We're always trying to get new people to join our collective.
((Speaker 8))
And then we put the letters, right?
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yes.
((Speaker 8))
Perfect.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Sew them on top. That's it, I think.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
This quote is by Ladybird Johnson.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
"Where flowers bloom, so does hope. And hope is the precious,
indispensable ingredient without which the war on poverty can
never be won." When I came across the quote, it just stood out to
me because it really is just about hope. It's about the passerby
walking down the streets, stumbling across something that they
never expected to be there. And it just gives them a sense of,
"I'm cared for, my neighborhood's cared for, and there's love,
there's love out there.” And it makes you smile.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Banner: Blooms in East Harlem))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))
((Writer/Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 6 female; 2 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
My name is Naomi Lawrence, also known as NaomiRAG. I'm a fiber artist,
yarn bomber and I live here in East Harlem.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, right now, we are on Second Avenue, 109th street. This is a fence I've
used before. I'm going to install these. They were somewhere else and they
got taken down. So, I'm going to put them up here and see how long they
last.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 1))
This is amazing.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Aw, thanks. Thank you. Oh, it's so good to see you. She got so big! Do you
like…..
((Speaker 2))
My grandma, mine, she does everything like these.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah?
((Speaker 2))
Yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Is that grandma?
((Speaker 3))
Yeah, my mom.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Oh really?
((Speaker 2))
Yeah, she does it.
((Speaker 3))
And I.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
You do it, too? You can make this, yeah.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, I was originally from Liverpool and I moved to London in my twenties
and then found myself in Cambridge with my husband when he was at
seminary. He was offered a job in Spanish Harlem. So, we
emigrated here in 2014 with our two children.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So right now, we're on the corner of 104th Street and Lexington
Avenue and I live just around the corner and this is Lexington
Academy and we've used this fence many, many times. The
principal asked me to do a monarch butterfly because the school
is full of immigrants and he wanted to respond to how beautiful
migration is.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, we installed the monarch in November and it's now been ten
months. It's pretty grubby and it's actually started to get a little
baggy. I'm going to have to move across. I'm hoping she's going
to go somewhere like Mexico. She was going to go to Mexico,
but then COVID. I hope she can finish her life somewhere in
Central America and do the actual path that monarchs actually
follow. But she's got plenty of life left in her. So, just fingers
crossed, hope for the best.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 4))
Woo!
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Woo!
((Speaker 4))
Woo!
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Oh my God. Just look how dirty my hands are.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
It's taken me a while to say that I make art because at first I was
just yarn bombing and covering things in the street with yarn. But
I do it because it makes people smile. I do it because it brings
people joy. And it makes me happy too.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, this is El Barrio Loves You. I think, El Barrio Loves You.
((Speaker 4))
El Barrio Loves You.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
We put this up by Metropolitan Hospital during COVID. Six
different people work on this, five women and one guy, all who
live in this part of East Harlem.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
You know, I'm going to put these two together to save zip ties.
((Speaker 5))
Oh, okay. Yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
And we just wanted a message to the hospital to say, you know,
"We support you. You're having a rough time. We're all in this
together. Thank you for your hard work."
((NATS))
((Speaker 5))
Did you bring any…..
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
There's yarn and needles. I'll show you where the needles are.
So, you have no idea?
((Speaker 5))
I don't know what I'm doing.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
It’s the usual story. Plus two.
((Speaker 5))
Do you have.....
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
I have this color yarn. You can just like make it up.
((Speaker 5))
Okay yeah, yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
My ears are sore. Okay, so this is crochet and I would consider
myself to be a crochet fiber artist who uses the street as my
gallery, I guess. I'm a very slow knitter and I use knitting to make
garments, but it would take way too long to do this in knitting, so.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, well, I've had 30 contributors to send these flowers and, oh
this one was Flo. But people from like all over, they take some of
the patterns I’ve sent them.
((Speaker 6))
This one’s really nice.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, that was one of the patterns I sent. That's clematis. But
some people just sort of did whatever they felt like and this is
what survived. So, I'm going to need help to sew it together and
then obviously, to pull it up. And it's going to take a couple of
hours to pull it up.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, that was Christie. I've got Kay here. So, I guess, I'll just put
these on afterwards. So…..
((Speaker 6))
You should glue them on there.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Glue them on! I think there will be a bit of gluing.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 7))
I teach here. I teach 7th and 8th grade Special Ed
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
and we love this and we're starting to put it into the curriculum. I
think it's cool.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber)))
Oh, you are? Oh, that's wonderful.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, we'll all be set for Sunday, five o'clock I think people said they
could make.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So for years, I’ve worked on the large flowers on my own, but I’ve
been very keen to work in collaboration with others from the
neighborhood, women who were either born here or from Puerto
Rico, Dominican Republic or who’ve emigrated here just like me.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
And it's much easier as long as you don't sew it to the grass.
Yeah, your O's are round. They're great.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
And then we'll get some funny pictures again, like we did last
time.
((Speaker 7))
Cool.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
That's always fun at the end of it, to have some silly pictures.
Okay. Let’s just check.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, they're all supposed to be 40 inches [1 meter]. So, I think,
we're pretty much almost done.
((Speaker 8))
Yes, one more, I think.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Okay. Just finish that row then. Thank you. Yeah, it's great that
you're involved.
((Speaker 8))
Thank you.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
We're always trying to get new people to join our collective.
((Speaker 8))
And then we put the letters, right?
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yes.
((Speaker 8))
Perfect.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Sew them on top. That's it, I think.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
This quote is by Ladybird Johnson.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
"Where flowers bloom, so does hope. And hope is the precious,
indispensable ingredient without which the war on poverty can
never be won." When I came across the quote, it just stood out to
me because it really is just about hope. It's about the passerby
walking down the streets, stumbling across something that they
never expected to be there. And it just gives them a sense of,
"I'm cared for, my neighborhood's cared for, and there's love,
there's love out there.” And it makes you smile.
((NATS/MUSIC))
