Having fun finding fungi: Rochester artist makes crocheted mushrooms to teach and delight
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Walk too fast, and you might miss the life-like crocheted fungi lining the hiking trails at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro.
The chicken of the woods and oyster mushrooms engineered with yarn are the handiwork of Rochester artist Lydia Hansen. They’re part of a fungi hunt that is meant to teach hikers about the mycology of southeast Minnesota — and to delight passersby.
“I have exhibited in galleries, but I really enjoy art where I can get up close and personal with it,” said Hansen. “A lot of my art, especially my public art, is very much in that spirit of saying let's get this where people can put their hands on it and be right up close with it.”
The crocheted mushrooms are affixed to stumps and tree trunks, and they’re tucked away under leaves. Each cluster is true-to-life in color, size and form and accompanying interpretive signs teach hikers about fungi commonly found in the southeastern part of the state.
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Hansen was inspired to make crocheted mushrooms a few years ago, after taking weekly hikes in the region in and around Rochester. Hansen said they saw a lot of plants and wildlife on those hikes — but didn’t know the names of what they were seeing.
“I did this project to bring those two things together that I was experiencing when I'm outside, which is, I feel more connected to nature and more connected to where I'm from…when I know that's not just a tree, that's an oak; that's not just a bush, that is a grapevine; that's not just a flower, that's blood root,” said Hansen.
Hansen’s fungi hunts are ephemeral. Their first was installed near Chatfield on the Lost Creek Hiking Trail, another near Whitewater State Park. The hunt at Eagle Bluff in Lanesboro will be on display through October and features 12 different mushrooms along with interpretive signs.
Hansen is waiting on a grant to install another fungi hunt at Quarry Hill Nature Center in Rochester.
