Worm Farm Institute collaborates with Wisconsin artists
On June 12th, the Worm Farm Institute (WFI) held an unveiling of artwork along the Half-Moon Lagoon Disc Golf Course in downtown Reedsburg. Director of Programs for the institute, Philip Matthews said this is the first in a series of what the Worm Farm is calling test plots, and like their agricultural counterparts, test plots are opportunities for the WFI to play an experiment. He pointed out test plots gives them an opportunity to double down in their community friendships to collaborate with different partners and to test things that may or may not work out that may or may not be expanded in 2022.
“We're thrilled to launch this project today called Discover ARCA. It's a collaboration between Worm Farm Institute, the Reedsburg Arts Link, and the Disconsin Disc Golf Club,” Matthews said. (Disconsin is spelled intentionally this way)
According to the WFI’s website, founded in 2000 by Jay Salinas and Donna Neuwirth, the WFI is a Wisconsin-based 501(c)(3) non-profit working to build a sustainable future for agriculture and the arts by fostering vital links between people and the land. The organization’s name is inspired by a quote from Charles Darwin’s book, ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mold through the Action of Worms’.
Artists Christopher Sweet-Reedsburg, Don Kauss-Loganville, Ellie Erickson, Madison, George Jones-Milwaukee, Laura Annis-Baraboo, Lightning New Rider-Wisconsin Dells, Martina Patterson-Milwaukee, Peter Krsko-Wonewoc, and Steve Tourdot-Reedsburg created their pieces specifically for this creative and non-traditional venue, the Half Moon Lagoon Disc Golf Course located off of North Webb Avenue in downtown Reedsburg, Wisconsin.
Acknowledging a lot of people went into making this project happen, Matthews noted Conservation Biologist Maia Persche, a young conservation biologist originally from Baraboo who is about to start her PhD. “She created a really beautiful text about the species of plants and animals that you might find in the course which you may know overlays with the Roger Popple Nature Area” (the city's premiere nature area and walking trail).
For more information on the Worm Farm Institute visit: https://www.wormfarminstitute.org/
For more information on the Reedsburg Arts Link visit: https://reedsburgartslink.org/
For more information on the Disconsin Disc Golf Club visit: https://www.facebook.com/Disconsin/
