Date/Time
Date(s) - Oct 1st, 2017 - Oct 31st, 2017
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location
Bullitt Reservation
Come to the Bullitt Reservation to view an exhibit of Madge Evers’ mushroom spore prints. Spore printing is the technique of taking the millions of tiny spores that fall from mushroom caps and using them to create a print.
The exhibit will be on display during the month of October, and can be viewed anytime that staff are present and the building is open, generally Monday through Friday from 9am until 5pm. The artist is generously donating 30% of the sale of any piece in the show to Hilltown Land Trust.
Madge Evers grew up in Connecticut and lives in western Massachusetts. She studied at the Maine Photographic Workshop, has a B.A. in English from Suffolk University, and an M.A. from the University of Rhode Island. Madge’s work originates with her passion for the garden and growing things. Employing a process rooted in farm and garden practices, she cultivates mushrooms which provide her with a renewable source of spore “ink.” When not making spore prints, Madge can be found teaching high school English or somewhere in the garden.
To view Madge’s work online, visit her website or her Facebook page.
Artist’s Statement: My art begins in the garden. I cultivate mushrooms and use the spores that fall from their gills to create images. The mature mushroom gradually releases tiny spores—about 16 billion per mushroom—that settle on the surface below, sometimes shifted slightly by air currents. An image slowly emerges, sometimes crisp and photographic, and other times thick and velvety. Like a fingerprint, each mushroom produces unique patterns, which I can replicate by moving the mushroom around the canvas over a period of hours. The density of the pattern may vary as the spore supply wanes. I then spray an archival fixative onto the canvas to secure the fragile image. The species in these images is Stropharia rugosoannulata.
Spore printing began with attempts by mycologists and gastronomes to identify species and choice edibles, each mushroom’s story unique. I also use spore printing to evoke stories; Stropharia rugosoannulata establishes the narrative which I then direct through placement, manipulation and stencil.
