Mycophilia: Mushroom School for Artists
September 2022
Mycology is the study of mushrooms.
Mycophilia is the love of them.
Mycophilia is an online residency for artists to learn about mushrooms and fungi. The program offered daily video chats with research mycologists from distinguished clubs and laboratories around the world. This research residency offered opportunities to learn from experts, to develop ideas with other artists, and to get your hands dirty. Ayatana residencies are designed to facilitate research that will enrich visual and conceptual artists' practice within a group of like-minded creative people.
Earth Pigments / WildCraft
August 2022
Wildcraft was a residency for artists interested in harvesting materials from the wild. The program offered daily video lectures and chats with nine experienced foragers about their techniques for collecting and processing materials from nature. We also learned from the seven artists in the class about their artistic practices. Built into the 2 - 2.5 hours of daily programming were discussions, demonstrations, recommended assignments, and show-and-tell. The program focused on finding meaning and majesty in materials while making relationships with the wildlife that surrounds us. The emphasis in this residency was on color and learning from color practitioners on how to create color from natures palette. This included working with mordents and tannins. Ultimately, we learned how to work with color and material's color resistance to fading or running to make our work as colorfast as possible. I developed this project and created the panels below to test the recipes and application process we learned in the residency.
Symbiosis
Symbiosis was a residency for artists to learn about wild ecology. It took place in July of 2022. The program offered daily video chats with research scientists, naturalists, and artists from around the world. The topics focused on connections between living organisms. Built into the 2 - 2.5 hours of daily programming were discussions, recommended assignments, and show-and-tell. Biophilium residencies are designed to facilitate research that will enrich the practice of visual and conceptual artists within a group of like-minded creative people. I applied for the residency and participated as a selected artist. My main interests was to learn about the symbiotic relationships that I overlook every day. Ultimately, the residency provided critical insight into these relationships existing in the natural world. It also helped me to refine the way I see and to look deeply at what I am finding in my foraging practice or daily walks and hikes. In addition, my cohorts were amazing! They were professors, international artists, performance artists, musicians, postdocs and more importantly they provided amazing insights into their own practice and approach to understanding the world around them.
2020 Artist Residency
(Below) Painting residency
Art Ventures residency, Half Moon Bay, CA, January - February 2020.
Art Ventures gallery, 888 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025
