Each cyanotype is handmade and unique

My work with foraged plants led me to the cyanotype process where I learned about and marvelled at botanist Anna Atkins’ beautiful work in British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, one of the first photographic books ever made. I then began using botanical cyanotypes as the background for mushroom spore prints; these images represent this work, a continuation of The New Herbarium series, in blue.
In the spring of 2020, I created abstract backgrounds in cyanotype chemistry that evoked a chaotic universe, inspired by the world of the pandemic. When mushrooms popped up later in the spring and summer, I added their spores to connect elements of my actual world with the alternate universe born of the cold Covid spring. This series is tentatively called Blue Planet.

Made with the species Stropharia rugosa-annulata, each image shows the many iterations of a single mushroom.

Made with the lush deep violet spores of Stropharia rugosa-annulata, a mushroom I grew in my shady yard. Each image is made with the millions of spores in one mushroom.

Informed by mycology and influenced by the inherent transformation of growing cycles, The New Herbarium, interprets the process of herbaria creation. The mushroom spore print, used to identify species based on spore color, is adopted in form and medium to create works on paper that explore mycorrhiza and photosynthesis. Mushrooms are used as food, medicine, and in the fabrication of consumer products, and in the New Herbarium, as a compostable art medium. I photograph the fragile works; archival inkjet prints available.

Trees at the Top of the World emerged as the summer of 2018 turned to autumn and the undeniably warming planet sought equilibrium in the forms of flood, drought, and fire. From the hills of western Massachusetts, where a daily onslaught of weather disasters is not yet the norm, I gathered materials in the woods and assembled spore prints. The images that emerged depict an aftermath - a delicate climate-changed landscape, reduced to shadow and light. Dominating the series is the leaf, optimistic consumer of carbon dioxide and producer of oxygen. Photosynthesis powers 99% of the world’s ecosystems and, 200 million years ago, captured the sun’s energy to create the coal and petroleum we now burn. The images contain silhouettes of today's foliage, outlined by the light-colored spores of mushrooms. A symbiosis between fungi and plants, able to communicate through underground networks, transport and transform nutrients, and help one another, is suggested throughout the series.