In 2022, Lonely Worm Farm kicked off its arts program with its Welcome Mat Project, generously funded by the Bertha Foundation. Participants wove collective and individual welcome mats out of found materials: scraps of cloth carrying stories of past use, garden fencing, branches, twine, reeds, mugwort stalks and more.  As the mats find their way into different homes and institutions, we hope that the spirit of joyful welcome, collaboration, and attention will travel with them and spread.

A short interview featuring Lonely Worm Farm’s founder Eliza Factor and the welcome mat crew.

Volunteer showing off her work and close up of a floral hammer print.

Making clay and working it.

Branch decorating and flower collage.

Painting mushrooms and a completed sculpture on site.

Detail from collective tapestry and stone face.

In 2023, the arts program expanded to include collage, branch and textile work, hammer printing, natural dye making, mushroom painting, and ceramics—with clay harvested on the farm!