Mycology and Color: A Chromatic Universe of the Fungi Kingdom

Often forgotten in the realm of textiles, mushrooms have long been used as natural dyes, yielding some of nature's most vibrant colors. You will learn to use fungi to create dyes, pigments, paints and inks. You will be inspired by a day in the forest, learning about the mycological world. Working in the studio you will learn how to extract dyes and pigments from mushrooms. You will leave with an understanding of how to find, forage and identify dye mushrooms, a color chart with wool fiber samples, hand-dyed bandana, pigment, paint and ink samples and an instructional craftbook. 

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Julie Beeler is a designer, artist and educator. She created the Mushroom Color Atlas which has received a variety of recognition and will be featured on upcoming broadcasts of Oregon Public Broadcasting. Her textile work has been exhibited nationally. She was on the faculty of PNCA and OCAC in Portland.

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For the field trip to the forest students need to bring: 

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• water bottle

• sack lunch

• collecting basket or bag

• knife for cutting mushrooms

Students must wear good sturdy shoes for walking in the woods. Students need to bring layered clothing and be prepared for weather, including rain gear.

For the work in the fiber studio:

• apron

• pen for notetaking 

• gloves for using the dye pot, if desired  

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Students will be provided a mushroom dye chart, various fiber samples, dye mushrooms, dye pigments, paint, paper, printing making materials, silk bandana, and other various supplies and tools to make and create the different samples along with books and a craft notebook that includes mushroom dye recipes.

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