The following works are some of my earliest explorations into printmaking, done in the fall of 2020. Each print was made on my handmade mushroom paper, using a combination of trace and stencil monoprinting techniques (with occasional paint or glue touch-ups necessitated by the fragile, textured surface of the mycopaper).
In the late summer and early fall of 2020, I began investigating mushrooms as a papermaking medium. I have long been interested in the material uses of fungi, and had come across the work of a few paper makers online who incorporate mushrooms into their practice. These artists have derived the term “mycopaper” from the root word myco, which means “fungi”. Referencing their work as a guide, I started my own series of mushroom paper experiments.
Meripilus sumstinei, or the black-staining polypore, is a good edible mushroom that bears many similar qualities to the better-known hen of the woods mushroom. Its fruiting body, shown here, tears nicely into fibrous strands. In younger specimens, these fibers are tender and meaty; in older ones (and in the tough inner portions of the mushroom), these fibers are strong and pliable, lending themselves well to papermaking.Continue reading
