Mordant Monday: Foraging Instead

Today I was supposed to write about mordanting, but I had a foraging date to scout out potential sites for our upcoming workshop with Julie Beeler, so I headed out this morning to get a sense of what we might discover during our workshop. I am a mushroom foraging novice, and will stare for a long time at the forest floor and see absolutely nothing. I simply don’t have the eyes yet to distinguish between a brown leaf and a bolete. But to my surprise, there were some mushrooms that give color that very happily announced their presence right in … Read more

Video From Live FEEDBACK FRIDAY: Mushrooms + Textile Design With Ximena Curiel

Last week on FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we welcomed Ximena Curiel who told us a personal story about her path as an artist and all about her exciting work with mushrooms and textile design! Ximena Curiel is a Product designer with a MSc in Biomimicry currently performing field and laboratory research on fungal pigments. Ximena says since she was young, “she experienced the kindness of nature, while growing up in the jungles of southeast Mexico.” From first hand observations, she’s watched how ecosystems have degraded while her love for all living things lead her to nurture connections between biology and design. She … Read more

Video From Live FEEDBACK FRIDAY: The Mushroom Color Atlas

Last FEEDBACK FRIDAY, we had Mushroom Color Atlas Founder, Julie Beeler! Julie talked about her Mushroom Color Atlas which is a resource and reference for everyone curious about mushrooms and the beautiful and subtle colors derived from them. Julie says the atlas is also the start of a journey and a point of departure, introducing people to the kaleidoscopic fungi kingdom and our connection to it. Her hope is that everyone will be inspired to learn more about the mycological world, and begin to understand the importance of the networks, connections and symbiotic relationships that live in our forests. Most … Read more