WORKSHOP: Fungi Cultivation with Matt Gale
October - December 2022 at STEAMhouse Birmingham, UK
Developed and hosted by Sarah King and Matt Gale
Are you curious about fungi and keen to learn more about how to cultivate them? Would you like to be able to grow your own mushrooms at home?
STEAMhouse is offering a short course covering tissue sampling through all stages of cultivation led by Matt Gale. Matt received a DYCP grant from Arts Council England in 2021 to develop his project culturing native fungi species from tissue samples. He will lead participants through the basic stages of cultivation, share his experiences and offer advice.
During this course you will:
Learn and practise basic Bio lab techniques
Gain knowledge and understanding of basic fungal biology
Receive support as you are guided through the different stages of culturing fungi
Work alongside a group of likeminded peers.
By the end of the course you will:
Understand what fungi are and how they grow
Have gained some experience in basic sterile bio lab procedures
Have practical experience of growing fungal mycelium on a variety of substrates
Be able to continue cultivating fungi in a domestic setting.
This course is designed for people with no previous experience of working with fungi.
The course consists of three in-person workshop sessions at STEAMhouse in Birmingham.
Participants will receive:
A 3D Fungi Cultivation BioBox, filled with materials and tools to support your learning
Downloadable resources and worksheets
Support from a specialist technician
Co-facilitator
Matt Gale is a British born artist who grew up in Southern California and trained as a biologist before completing a MA Fine Art in 2017. He makes sculpture and installation that queers perceptions of what is natural or normal, frequently exploring hybrid state and entanglement.
He was awarded the Gertrude Aston Bowater Bequest prize for his MA exhibition & the work was included in the first Coventry Biennial. In 2018, he won the RBSA Next Wave prize, followed by his first solo show at Asylum Gallery & was shortlisted for the Hippodrome 120 Pangaea Sculpture Award in 2019. His installation, Soma, created through residencies with Stryx Gallery & Eastside Projects was selected by the International Curators Forum & New Art West Midlands for inclusion in the 2019 Coventry Biennial. Exhibitions in 2020 include Queer Art(ists) Now at Archive Gallery, London & Queer Contemporaries, curated by Short Supply, at Air Gallery, Manchester. His work appears in Un//Titled: An Anthology of Queer Contemporary Art and was featured in the Clifford Chance London Pride exhibition in 2021. He was awarded a DYCP from Arts Council England in 2021 to develop research into cloning wild fungi for sculptural materials. Hybrids will feature as part of his collaboration with Canadian artist, Rajni Perera’s Traveller at Eastside Projects in June 2022.
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