MADGE EVERS Original Work and An Artist’s Statement

MADGE EVERS | AN ARTIST’S STATEMENT

My work originates in the soil with materials I grow or forage. Using various media, including the cyanotype and pastels, but primarily mushroom spores, the powdery substance that resides in the gills and pores of mushrooms, I make imagery that is informed by mycology and influenced by the inherent transformation of growing cycles. When released in nature, mushroom spores land on nearby soil, leaves, or rocks, always with the intention of survival. In my process, these tiny reproductive particles fly or float, then alight—my medium for works on paper. Thus, the spore print, a mushroom identification tool, is adopted in form and medium to create works on paper that explore mycorrhiza and photosynthesis. Spore images contain organic abstractions and patterns that conjure a natural world both strange and deeply familiar.

“Luminous Herbarium” is made with the bioluminescent spores of Jack O’ Lantern mushrooms (Omphalotus olearius), and depicts chervil, echinacea, and yarrow. It’s part of the New Herbarium, my series that interprets the practice of pressing and preserving flora, initially inspired by the Herbarium Emily Dickinson created when she was a child.