For the March edition of Cardea’s residency, Randy Polumbo and Eugenia Bone will be joining us for a talk on using fungi as an artistic medium and the mycology that makes it possible, followed by a wide ranging Q and A covering mycology, fungal ecology and psychedelic mushrooms.
Randy Polumbo is an installation-based artist who lives and works between Joshua Tree, California and New York City. His artwork has been shown nationally and internationally across metropoles and natural landscapes such as deserts, ruins, and caves. He is a graduate of The Cooper Union School of Art, as well as a LEED accredited master builder and serves on the Board of Directors of New York Live Arts. Randy joins us with decades of experience in building spaces and immersive environments, using polished metal and blown glass, reishi mushroom mycelium, kaleidoscopic grottos, and cast glass. His projects range from museum installations to public sculpture, to monumental renovation of New York mansions and apartments for clients and design luminaries around the world.
Randy has designed and built Cardea’s Tribeca Ketamine Space in New York City to enhance the calming, novel and imaginative environment for transformative experiences. The space’s design materializes Cardea’s concept of “radical hospitality,” which places the guest and their goals at the visual, tactile, and acoustical center of the experience. All sensory interactions have been considered, from lighting, sound, scents and textures, leading each moment of a journey to a new discovery. Randy first began growing and casting mycelium during COVID. This led to his monumental installation at the Brooklyn Museum and a myriad other mycelia projects including Cardea!
Eugenia Bone is an internationally known food and science writer whose work has appeared in many anthologies, magazines, and newspapers. She is a member of the faculty at the New York Botanical Garden where she teaches classes on mycophagy and psychedelic mushrooms. She is the author or co-author of eight books on food and biology, including the category staple Mycophilia, and most recently, the Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook (December, 2021). She has been nominated for a variety of awards, including a James Beard Award. Eugenia is featured in the documentary directed by Louie Schwartzberg, Fantastic Fungi (2019), and in the Netflix children’s show about food, Waffles + Mochi (the mushroom episode) produced by Michele Obama’s Higher Ground Productions.
