In 2023, Minnesota-based artist Lydia Hansen set a goal of taking at least one hike every week throughout the entire year to care for her mental health. She began musing about how fun it would be to create crocheted mushrooms that one would encounter with the same surprise they’d feel coming across the real thing. Serendipitously, she ran into one of the trail managers of the park she was exploring and shared her idea. “That turned into my very first Fungi Hunt, which ran for an entire year at the Lost Creek Hiking Trail near Chatfield, Minnesota,” the artist tells Colossal.
This summer marks the third iteration of the project, which visitors can explore at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro, Minnesota, and Hansen already has more planned for the next couple of seasons. The artist describes her practice as “experiential fiber art,” combining her love of nature and creativity in the public sphere. “When I was developing the Fungi Hunt, one of the motivating factors behind the design was to create something that would encourage people to be looking up from their feet and taking note of what was around them as they walked,” she says.
Each crocheted oyster mushroom or turkey tail is a nod to native flora of the region. “The point of this ‘restriction’ is to highlight what’s already around us, not just the most colorful, most unusual, or most oddball fungi species the world has to offer—and there are many weirdo fungi out there,” Hansen says. She uses secondhand yarn for the mushrooms themselves, then she staples, screws, or stakes the pieces temporarily onto dead wood.
A grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council supports the Eagle Bluff project and allowed Hansen to contract Minnesota naturalist and “fellow fungi nerd” Tanner Barnharst to develop interpretive signage. “As the internet gets rapidly more unreliable to accurate scientific information, I wanted to make sure folks could get good information on the hikes—especially since cell service is spotty on a lot of these trails,” the artist says.
The Eagle Bluff Fungi Hunt continues through October 31. If you’re in the area, Hansen and Barnharst will be leading a free guided mycology hike in the afternoon of August 16. The artist is currently preparing for her largest hunt yet, which will take place across three parks in Olmsted County next summer. She’s also curating a fungi-themed exhibition at Kouba Gallery in Bloomington, Minnesota, and is excited to be fielding invitations from further afield for future installations.
See more on Hansen’s Instagram.
