I'm Julia Bloom.
I'm based in Manhattan now.
I grew up in the Midwest.
I'm a sculptor and I make these
hybrid plant forms that kind of collide
Ideas of natural and artificial.
And I'm really interested in the borderline between
what's considered human and what's considered nature.
So I spend a lot of time in nature,
and that takes a lot of form.
So I do as much backpacking and hiking as I can.
I try to
do kind of like
long term
silent sits in natural areas,
so I'll sit under a tree for a day or by a stream for a day.
And it's really kind of incredible
the things that you see when you do that.
So I've had you know,
I've had a bobcat come like within a few feet of me, for instance.
But then I also do
really long walks in city parks,
and I try to be really aware of how
this land is changing from day
to day season to season.
I kind of get to know the trees individually,
see how,
you know, when the squirrels come back and all of that.
So I treat them both as natural in the wild areas
and that, uh,
you know, treating them both in this way
is one of my sources of inspiration.
And I also read a lot I read a lot of poetry.
And that's one of the ways that I kind of
it helps me to think in a non-linear way.
Um, so,
you know, a lot of my sculptures, there are these plants
that are living together that wouldn't live together outside of my sculptures.
And, um,
poetry kind of, uh,
you know, it takes you out of linear time.
It helps you to collide moments together.
Um, and, yeah,
also just experimentation in the studio, going to galleries.
Um, I feel very lucky living in New York
and having a really great art community.
So for me,
I have a, a longer term
relationship with the park that I live nearby.
Um, so, you know, I know, for example, where
individual hawks prefer to hunt,
I
can, like, identify individual squirrels.
I know exactly when the different trees will bloom.
So it's a very, uh.
It's like a long term community relationship.
And then
if I'm out hiking or backpacking,
I try to form some of that relationship with a smaller area.
So that's why all, you know, try to form
a relationship with a single tree or with a river.
Um, and then they're just.
I don't know.
There's so many different ways of looking in both of them. I
spend a lot of time, like
doing long looking in when I'm backpacking
versus if I'm taking a walk.
It's like it's faster.
I'm kind of
taking in longer
areas as opposed to, like one, you know, looking at one thing
Only metaphorically at this point.
I have worked with like plants in the past.
so now I work with faux plants
that I source from the flower district
or the people are getting rid of or,
you know, eBay and Etsy just all over
and then I make these forms
out of wire and wire mesh
and either plaster
or epoxy, and
that kind of creates the general form.
Um, and then I paint over it with acrylic, a bunch of stuff mixed in.
I was a painter before I was a sculptor.
So painting is still really important to me.
And that is what gives it kind of like
I feel like it gives it its personality in the end.
Um, and yeah, they're not living now,
but I do think of them as kind of creatures. Um,
and I think of them as kind of forming
impossible communities.
Um, I'm bringing plants together from all over
the world that would grow at different times of the year.
And they're kind of making these
big bulbous collaborations
I think that the best way to create lasting
change is to operate from a place of joy as opposed to a place of lack.
Um, and
for me, I'm
forming these relationships with the land because I love it.
And you don't want to harm what you love.
So, you know, that's kind of my philosophy
for why I want to live sustainably.
Um, why I try to create as sustainably as possible.
Um, and the things that I make, I hope that
it kind of, you know,
it brings some sense of joy and care
for the land to people because if you don't care for something,
you're not going to want to protect it.
Um, so that's kind of the place that I'm operating from.
Um, and living in the city there just, there's so many opportunities
to find that joy and to find like your place
within eco consciousness and sustainability.
And that's going to be different for everyone.
But, um, you know,
I think that there's a lot of joy to be found in supporting your community
by, you know, advocating for better public transportation,
advocating for citywide composting. And,
you know, if you do that from a place of excitement,
I think it's something that's going to last.
So in terms of art specifically,
it's something that I have struggled with in the past because
I'm creating
more objects in a very object filled world.
Um, but I think that kind of trying to think more sustainably
actually has really helped my art because it makes me more
present.
It makes me not want to, you know, just produce a bunch of stuff
so that I can sell it really quickly or something.
Um, because I think that
for most people that's not going to lead to better work.
Um, and I think that if you move slowly
and intentionally, um,
the work will be better and it will be more sustainable.
I also try not to throw old pieces away,
even if I don't like them, because usually I can end up like cutting it apart
or kind of like smashing it and making a form over it or something.
Um, and then I'll build off of that and it kind of, it
introduces new shapes, new combinations of things.
Um, so,
you know, just introducing sustainability
as much as you can into your work, I think actually improves it.
Um, but
yeah, it's always a complicated thing to make objects.
Um, it makes me very mad when people
think that it's reasonable
to debate whether non-human animals
are conscious beings or even if they, like, feel pain.
Um, I think this is such a
imperialist and colonialist view
and it leads to just like so many horrors.
Um, and yeah, I don't like that.