We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Naomi Lawrence. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Naomi below.

Naomi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I was discouraged from going to art school not because of lack of skill but because it wasn’t seen as the most wholesome and stable environment for me to be part of. So then follows the classic story of me not going to college at all and spending the next ten years working in London, not sure where I was going. I loved London, mostly because of the amount of art & culture that was literally on my doorstep, hopping from private views, to exhibitions, to live music, never spending much money but simply drawing on the abundance of art that was available. I was living in the now very trendy Hoxton Square, London home of the White Cube and I cannot recall how this happened but the Vicars wife asked me if I would be interested in ‘doing the flowers’ for her sons upcoming wedding.
Of course I said and then I became the go to person for floral arrangements in that small community. I reached out to 2 local florists to get some hands-on experience and then started doing weekly floral arrangements at my office space.
I had the idea to go back to college so I enrolled for an Associates Degree in Floral Design (who knew you could do that?!). It was just a year and my office job at an architect allowed to me to go part time for the duration. I was slowly getting more interested in yarn, My mother had taught me to knit when I was 18 but honestly I found it difficult and wasn’t that excited to do something that I was struggling with. However I did persist, simply because it was becoming fashionable again (think early 2000s). Knitting WAS becoming cool again and I wanted to be part of it but something still had not clicked for me.
Fast forwards, I finished my time in college and jumped right in. I went freelance and worked with two of the top floral designers in London and also some private clients. I loved it but again it wasn’t clicking completely. Then I learnt to crochet.
Crochet was different and I really enjoyed it. One day in June 2012 I learnt it was about to be International Yarnbombing Day where people would ‘yarnbomb’ (cover something in yarn, putting yarn outside on trees and bike racks and lampposts etc. Don’t forget this was England, we had no chain link fences. So I grabbed some samplers and put together a lamppost cover and sewed it on in the middle of the night. I woke up to a flurry of excitement, the local press had been called, who was the mystery artist!! Honestly is that all it takes??? Now it makes me laugh. Anyway I remained anonymous and continued with the help of neighbors to cover lampposts and bike racks around the city of Cambridge and had a lot of fun.
And then we emigrated to New York City.
I had seen another NYC based artist who was becoming very popular using chain link fences as a canvas and decided I would try that too. But my crochet HAD to be different. Copying someone else has NEVER been my jam. I see it all the time and some artists see it as a compliment but I have always maintained that being unique means being inspired and then interpreting it in your own way. My love of flowers and all things floral meant it was a no brainer really. I did some research and no one else in this ever expanding genre of fiber art was focusing on flowers. So I decided, giant 2-dimensional flowers would be the way I would go. The week we arrived in NYC, East Harlem to be precise I started work on a blue iris. I chose that flower as I saw them in the Conservatory Garden in Central Park. On Fathers Day 2014 I installed my first flower and the response was overwhelming. I still remained anonymous which maybe wasn’t the right decision in terms of growing my social media presence but I chose to do that for my own reasons. Maybe because I was new and an immigrant and unsure how it would all be received. With permission I used the school fence on the corner of my block and I have used that fence for almost 10 years. For the next few installations I focused on flowers in Central Park but then I broadened my focus and am inspired by nature in general, quite often choosing species of flowers and insects that are endangered.
I am an established crochet artist now, I apply for and sometimes receive city and state funds to do larger murals. I have private clients and sometimes have been resident artist for orgs. I love what I do but with a busy family life it’s hard to find the right balance. If I could commit myself 100% to my art I could probably make enough to support myself but because of choosing to spend a lot of time with my kids and part of their school and extra curricular life I have had to find other ways to support us. I now teach weaving in a day center for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities which honestly has enriched my art life rather that taken anything away. I run an after school yarn club at my kids school and also teach a fiber art class at a local senior center. Life is full and right now I am full of gratitude that I found my way back to art.

Naomi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Naomi Lawrence is a NYC Fiber Artist based in East Harlem. She works with acrylic yarn to create oversized 2-Dimensional crochet flowers, trees and wildlife. The site-specific installations are sewn onto chain-link fences in parks and public spaces.

Originally from England, UK, the first installation she created in 2014, Blue Iris endeared her to the East Harlem/Harlem community that she now calls home. Her installations take a few months to create but are generally approved by the city to stay in place for up to one year. They are often washed and refurbished to be reinstalled in various locations such as school playgrounds. Public engagement is a primary goal of each installation. The works become part of the urban landscape.

The audience is made up of people who live, work, and pass by the sites in their daily lives and also to a growing number of people who visit the neighborhood specifically to participate in the curated art walks and to learn about the creative neighborhoods that Harlem is well known for.

Lawrence studied Floral Design at the University of the Arts in London, 2007 and worked as a Florist before immigrating to the U.S. She has been knitting since 1999 and crocheting since 2009. In 2010 social media introduced Naomi to street art known as yarnbombing but her work quickly became in demand by arts organizations and city agencies.

Naomi’s work is freeform crochet and does not follow a pattern. She works with photographs so that she can reproduce subtle changes in color found in nature.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Looking back I should’ve started on social media straight away especially instagram. My following is still pretty low in comparison to some others that are doing the same thing as me and have been around for as long. I was always confused why I was so slow to build but being anonymous for a long time didn’t help. I also didn’t spend much time on my social media presence either. I know others that did it really well and I can only blame myself. I had a busy family life but I know others who do also and still manage to find time. I was also advised recently that I shouldve always used my full name for my art rather that finding a funky tag. I used NaomiRAG for years the RAG being Random Acts of Generosity but the advice came that as an artist maybe I shouldve always gone by Naomi Lawrence. After all, I’m not Banksy lol.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Still being the only crochet artist who focusses on large scale two dimensional flowers is very important to me. That could change at any time but I also think no one else is crazy enough to do them at the scale I use. I’ve seen others interpretations of flowers and even of my pieces which is fun but I also like when I see them move on to something else.
I like being the lady who makes the giant flowers. It’s nice to be known for that.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.naomilawrence.com
• Instagram: naomilawrence.art
• Facebook: naomilawrence.art

Image Credits
Stand Speak Shape image – Cheryl Louie IMA Image of Naomi Lawrence – Connie Lee all the rest are photographed by Naomi Lawrence