Collection of artwork and experiments.
Autumn 2024 Spore Print Survey
Spore print taken from British woodland fungi on black paper. I wanted to highlight fungal diversity with this piece, so it was lucky finding a good variety of spore colours and textures from various fungal fruiting bodies before the end of season. Notable species include Crepidotus, Pluteus, several different waxcaps, and the egg yolk fungus Bolbitius titubans.
Cyanotype Series #1
Exploring patterns emerging from spore prints taken on light sensitive cyanotype paper. Here I used a cap from the Parasol mushroom Macrolepiota procera. I found a cluster of Parasols occupying a conifer stand in late October 2025, this one happened to be just the right size.
Cyanotype Series #2
Here I arranged several Tawny Funnels or Paralepista flaccida on red cyanotype paper. These were found in the same conifer stand growing alongside the Parasols from the previous piece. They grew from a giant meter-by-meter fairy ring - I had only seen them grow solitary before this and there was probably nearly 100 in total.
Cyanotype Series #3
Again Tawny Funnels were used but on blue paper this time. High resolution scans were taken of pieces from this series shortly after printing. The light sensitive chemicals were intentionally not washed off and the pieces were framed. I kept them this way to observe any changes in colour, composition and any other noteworthy interactions between the spores and leftover chemicals on the paper. Inevitably ultraviolet radiation, oxygen, temperature and more will break down these pieces over the decades. The pale white spores used in this series are not as resistant to UV and oxidation as the melanin-rich brown and black pigmented spores. A reflection of the ephermality of fungi and how nature interacts with man-made chemicals when left alone.
Fungi Times Assmeblage
The concept behind this piece was to contrast the elaborate nature of fungal biomorphs with the stark absurdity we encounter in today's day-to-day landscape. Represented in the form of newspaper, magazine and novel cutouts and an United States dollar bill. Fungi to me are the primary out-of-sight organism that is easily ignored with little appreciation for their existance and what they provide our planet, so I tried to bring them into the foreground of this piece to contextualise our modern worries. I also just wanted to make something a little amusing and strange, not unlike a mushroom. Some of the common names of the species involved in this collage were: Snowy Waxcaps, Shaggy Scalycaps, Inkcaps and Poison Pies.
Stencil Standoff
Here I cast outlines using spores of various tabs from old tin cans. They are facing off against leaves from English Ivy. A comparison of biological and non-biological forms. Both leaf and tab were collected from an area of mixed deciduous woodland besides a main road, unfortunately.
50/50
The first from my Caribbean Series. The paper I used was from handmade recycled cardboard I made while living in the Caribbean on a mushroom farm. This one consisted of half egg carton and half brown cardboard. Spores are all from British fungi picked during October 2025 when I returned home.
Island Carton
100% egg carton pulp with added Mexican Petunia petals to give it a cooler colour. All pieces from this series were made using white vinegar as a preservative and shredded cotton fibres to provide strength to the paper base. All were framed with silica packs to preserve.
Golden Brown
100% recycled brown cardboard from a local supermarket. Turmeric was used as a dye and dried mushrooms and sea grapes were added to the pulp creating a thick coarse piece of paper for the spores to sit on.
Nascent Prints
A series of images that formed my first attempts at spore printing back in 2022.