From Plates to Plants: The Art and Science of Composting

graphite, colored pencil, pastel on paper mounted on board

www.alyssadennis.com

www.commonknowledgeplants.com

@lyssden

@commonknowledgeplants

25 x 17 inches

Fabric and fiber, hand and machine-sewn, 2020

https://www.artsy.net/artist/alyson-vega

@alyfiberartist

Made by stacking decayed plant material from my neighborhood in a custom-shaped compost bin on top of Yupo paper. After six to eight weeks the resulting decay left an imprint and a record of the process. I add marks with various media both before and after the composting process. Mostly, I surrender.

amyhibbs.com

@instahibbs

What if we designed clothing for decomposition? What if we designed our clothing with a plan for how it would be disposed of, laid out and clearly labeled on that garment along with its wash care? This piece proposes a future when clothing is designed with it’s life and ‘end of life’ thought through at the creation of the product. Compost Care Codes assume a world where consumers understand the process of decomposition and the raw materials used in their garments so that placing old, soiled and discarded textiles in backyard compost piles is a natural part of closing the loop.

@ann_with_an_ie

annesherwoodkeating@gmail.com

Farmer’s suicide is a national catastrophe in India since the 1990s. A farmer commits suicide approximately every thirty minutes. They are committing suicide by hanging, drowning and most commonly ingesting pesticides due to their inability to repay their debts. The project “Farm, Waste and Life” deals with agricultural waste and agrarian distress focused on farmer’s suicide in India. It addresses the narratives of agrarian distress and the potential use of rice husk as an added source of income for smallholder farmers. The artifacts- sickle and pesticide bottle are symbolic of the struggles, life, and death of the farmers and their families. The form is created from rice husk- one of the largest agricultural waste to depict the rooted symbolism. Since farming is a family occupation in India, it is necessary to educate the farmers as well as their family members about the alternative use of agricultural waste products in their practice. Doing this project in a western setting was extremely important for me. It familiarizes the western audience with an urgent issue in India. As India is a key exporter of rice, the project aims to create awareness regarding the food that the western community is consuming on a daily basis with little understanding of the agrarian crisis, agricultural waste and its implications on the producers (the farmers).

https://thbdsgn.com

@thehighbrow

As a community gardener (Riverside Inwood Neighborhood Garden at Broadway and Dyckman), I
help maintain a compost system. It’s quiet work and I enjoy watching the changes that take place
within a bin over weeks and months. Visitors to the garden are often curious about the composting
system; I’m happy to share what I know but there’s rarely time to cover all the details. I write a lot of
home and garden tutorials at my day job, and I know that the world needs practical explanations,
but I feel that some things cannot be fully known unless they’re experienced with the heart as well
as the mind.

http://caitlincastelaz.com/

Oil on panel, 8 x 10 h’

She makes sculptures and paintings out of her own post consumer waste. This is a painting of her compost, which she freezes in containers until the day she puts them in the brown DSNY bin for pick up. There is something sculptural about the frozen forms of compost and these forms inspired her to paint them. Also, there is beauty in the regeneration cycle of taking the left-over parts of plants that nourish and turning it back into soil to nourish again.

www.catherinesheltonjones.com

@catherinesheltonjones

This ceramic sculpture is a stylized depiction of an over-sized Pill bug, also affectionately known as “rollie pollies”. These crustaceans (yes, they are not technically insects) often inhabit compost heaps where they aid in the decomposition process by eating decaying plant matter.

The sculpture was fired in a process called sagger-firing. A brick box was constructed then the sculpture was added and covered with compost that I collected over a couple of weeks. The work was then fired and the burning compost left patterns and colors across the sculpture’s surface. Depending on the ingredients of the compost, a variety of different effects can be created.

Chris Garcia  is currently an Upper School art teacher at the Calhoun School, NYC. He has shown his work in solo and group exhibits in galleries and museums in the
United States, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, Armenia and Mexico.

Co-created by Green Map System and Lower East Side Ecology Center (Wendy Brawer, Christine Datz-Romero, Tara De Porte and colleagues with this Food, An Atlas layout by Aaron Reiss). Designed to help raise the status and visibility of this highly beneficial waste reduction practice, this map was published annually from 2006-2008 by Green Map System. It helped triple the food scrap drop-off rate at Lower East Side Ecology Center locations! Closing the loop, this layout appeared in the 2012 book, Food: An Atlas, a crowd-sourced collaborative project of guerrilla cartography and publishing by Darin Jensen.

https://www.greenmap.org/stories/compost-green-map-manhattan/171

What first appear to be abstract images, ‘(de)compositions’ are satellite photographs of larger composting sites around the world, subjectively captured using Google Earth. This vantage point offers viewers a chance to see these facilities from an unexpected perspective. What is beautiful from afar, may be far from beautiful as questions arise concerning the socio-economic and environmental impact of these facilities in comparison to locally-based, community composting sites.

http://www.nycompostbox.com

@nycompostbox

Black soldier fly larva and flies in resin, 11 dia x 0.5 inches [29,5 dia x 1 cm], 2017

Black soldier flies have gained status as a rapid waste processor, replacing other forms of composting and vermicultures at agriculture sites. The byproduct is applicable as soil amendment; the larva serve as chicken feed; as a source of protein, they are being tested for human consumption.

http://www.donalddaedalus.art/

@DHPDAEDALUS

The Compost Kit is a collection of books, photographs, prints, and a sticker that explain the many facets of composting. Each zine was prompted by questions from friends and compost workshop attendees. What to Compost, a 32-page miniature zine, details what can (and cannot) be composted, and why. Compost Starter Guide is a comprehensive book of tips, instructions, and frequently asked questions. Beginning in 2015, each edition of the Compost Kit evolves with new information.

emily-poor.squarespace.com

Parsley is from the series Before the Compost. In this series, food was photographed before being placed in the compost bin. This project started with some forgotten potatoes that started to overgrow. Each image showcases the surprisingly weird and beautiful of rotting (and/or used) foods.

juliagang.com

@thejuliagang

Watercolor on paper. 10 x 8 in. 2020

ideasinto.pictures

As I live and work in the same space, the lines between kitchen, garden, and creative space blur on a daily basis becoming an ever-evolving field of investigation. Acutely aware of the organic and inorganic materials that end up in the trash, this work begins with cooking and composting. As a Colombian, two things that I eat on a weekly basis are beans and avocados. After noticing some avocado seeds sprouting in my compost and the discarded bean juices staining everything else, I have been experimenting with different ways to extract pigments from these foods while simultaneously cultivating their seeds. I think of this practice as promoting the cycles of interdependence between the human and the non-human that make life and color possible on our planet.

www.katherinepatinomiranda.com

@katherine_patino_miranda

ink, gouache, watercolor, pencil on paper, 24” x 18”, 2018.

A friend in Central New York gave Kathy a bag of pears she had collected under her fruit tree, and
they were all small and irregularly shaped. Instead of eating the pears, they became a still life. As they sat,
they slowly wrinkled and decayed.

Kathy Creutzburg is an East Village public artist whose sculptures, mosaics, and paintings are inspired
by landscapes.

Acrylic on canvas. This piece is a reflection of cycles. At what point does the soil web below our feet fold into the larger cosmos?

https://www.lookalittlecloser.com

@lookalittlecloser

Hand-made cotton fiber paper with blueberry and turmeric dyes and thread, 9″x31″

www.maggiegourlay.com

@maggiegourl

“Snack” is the first in his series that explore how the artist thinks about nourishment and the cost it has on the world around him. “I wanted a visual reference to document what I consumed on an average day and to study the breakdown of how much was compostable, recyclable, or going to a landfill,” he says.  By allowing the work to objectively showcase the visual cost of consumption, Mark asks his audience what responsible steps all of us can take to be cognizant of what we consume, how we can nourish ourselves more sustainably, and ultimately, what steps should be taken to nourish our planet more sustainably.

@markmusters1

This landscape series depicts scenes from Linden Landfill in New Jersey, painted with different mixtures of compost leachate, humus, potting soil, and water. By rendering this urban landfill in the materials intimately associated with regenerative nutrient cycles, the paintings reveal the natural tension that exists between the bizarre isolation and remoteness of these hulking mounds locked awkwardly within the landscape and the mundane accessibility of muddy prints and smears on paper and cardboard.

Upcycled fabrics made into soft sculpture worms/roots/fungus

nightmultimediaart.com

@nightmultimediaart

2′ x 7′, woven hand dyed fabric

Inspired by the composting process, this piece explores the process of decomposition through materials and how they transform as they break down. To create color, strips of fabric were dyed using avocado, onion and finished compost and then woven together like they would be in a compost pile. This color palette brings to life the food waste cycle, while recognizing the vibrancy that can exist as materials decompose.

www.reneecrowley.com

@_reneecrowley_

Our addiction to consumerism is causing harm to our Earth. Living in a synthetic and plastic world of denial, do we fill ourselves with stuff to hide from the truth of the world? Is this loss of connection to natural materials what caused the state of our Earth today? The natural dyes used in the creation of this handmade kimono came from my food waste collected over two weeks. Experimentation with the various peels and seeds from my fruits and vegetables produced this range of colours. This piece, named Healing Jack, is inspired by the power of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is a complex biological and chemical process that is extremely overlooked. Taking non-western use of plant medicine further, in both process and symbolism, this piece is about health and the connection between Human and Nature.

Tyang.ca

thomas@yangsdesign.com

Our way of life is shifting as we deepen our consideration of thoughtful and ethical practices, especially when it comes to single use products. Myco bowls are structural art pieces created completely out of mycelium mushrooms grown in a hemp substrate. Mycelium is comprise of the networks of the mushroom plant grown around a substrate to create a strong, durable, and sustainable material. Over time, in the right environment with humidity and oxygen, the mycelium fibers grow and develops over the shape it is casted in. Our mycelium bowls are covered in food-grade beeswax to improve the water repellency of the bowls. Some are even infused with herbs and natural flavoring. After use, these bowls, along with the food content can go straight into the compost bin because it is entirely biodegradable.

https://www.shirleysleung.com

stephaniemurphy.myportfolio.com

Graphite, charcoal, acrylyc paint, and crayon on paper 44” X 30”

My recent work consists mostly of observational sketching. Sometimes I develop a sketch into a larger drawing. Last summer I made dozens of sketches of bags of trash and recycling, mostly outside of cafes. I found the texture and forms evocative; the way the plastic warps smoothly over cylinders; slants sharply across boxy prisms, pinching at the corners; and forms myriad complex folds and masses over unnameable odd shapes. Sometimes the membrane is translucent, sometimes murky and opaque. I enjoyed exploring through drawing how a thin material stretches itself around an interior jumble, separating a mess of objects from the outside world, and presents a textured and complex evidentiary mass.

This drawing was inspired by my brother, who is an outreach associate for composting in New York City at the nonprofit Big Reuse. One day last summer I visited him at his work, where I sketched one of the one pound compost bags they had on display. I decided I wanted to make a monumental study of a compost bag and I made this drawing at home in the Fall of 2019.

@yehudablum

Composters are those who contribute to organics recycling in New York City. Operators,
volunteers, coordinators, directors, educators, drivers, haulers and more are essential to the
systems that turn waste into compost. They sort, chop, turn, wash, lift, spread. There is no
singular giant compost pile into which all organic waste in the 5 Boroughs goes; instead many
complex processes occur simultaneously across our city.

The individuals composting in New York City will change over time, as will the organizations and
institutions. What will remain consistent is the humanity implied by the word ‘Compost’ how
embedded within is the intentional effort of the Composter. Matter changes forms without our
intervention (a host of lifeforms and energies are worth celebrating for this), but with our focused
efforts, we can direct these processes to address the human needs we have created in our city
today.

No one series could definitively show every Composter in New York City, there are so many
over so great an area; thus this series will grow with time in recognition of new Composters and
in celebration of experienced ones. I manage the compost at an educational farm in Brooklyn, I
am always looking for compost wisdom when I visit another site and meet another Composter.
The great joy of photographing this series is meeting people and participating in the compost
community across New York.