So far the mycelium experiments are growing without issue. My fingers will remain crossed that nothing contaminates the hyphae!
Supply shelf with little mushroom hut
Re-visiting various texts, growing items for FACTT Art and Science Festival and Grow-Op at the Gladstone. Biomimicry. Mycoremediation. Radical Mycology.
Currently working out of the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) studio at MoCA Toronto. It is Day 2 of mycelium experiments here (day 3 of working in the space). These first experiments will determine if growing mycelium in this studio space is viable without Trichoderma contamination. My fingers and toes are crossed!
For FACTT Festival of Art & Science and Grow-Op at the Gladstone, I am growing myco-remediation sculptures. Containment is still being conceptualized.
Myself, Nicole Clouston, Gunes Isitan and Joel Ong proposed to form a collective with Elaine Whitaker (Alien Agency Collective, named after the MIT publication by Chris Salter). We have accepted the offer and will share the Ontario Science Centre Studio at MOCA with Dornith Doherty from March 15 – June 15, 2019.
More info and images coming soon!
I will be holding a workshop discussing and demonstrating Midi Bio-Sonification Sunday, November 18, 2018 http://www.makechangeconference.com
Receive a 20% discount on your ticket into the conference using the following code: MAKERFF
Directions on how to get to TMAC can be found here> https://www.tomediaarts.org/location Hope to see you there!
Þriðjudaginn 30. október bjóða Leirlistafélag Íslands og Myndlistaskólinn í Reykjavík uppá opinn fyrirlestur þar sem listakonan Tosca Teran talar um verk sín og vinnuaðferðir.
Í októbermánuði hefur Tosca verið á vinnustofu leirlistafélagsins þar sem hún gerir tilraunir með leirbrennsluaðferðina Obvara. Þar notar hún íslensk hráefni til þess að búa til gerblöndu sem myndar áferð á yfirborð leirsins þegar honum er dýft heitum ofan í blönduna. Obvara, einnig þekkt sem ,,Baltic raku”, á uppruna sinn að rekja til Austur Evrópu (Hvíta-Rússland, Eistland og Lettland) á 12. öld.
Tosca vinnur einnig að spennandi vekefnum innan ,,bio-sonification” þar sem hún býr meðal annars til tónlist með örverum og blek úr sveppum.
Nánari upplýsingar um listakonuna er að finna á vefsíðu hennar – https://toscateran.com/about/
Fyrirlesturinn verður haldinn í fyrirlestrasal Myndlistaskólans, 3. hæð, þriðjudaginn 30. október klukkan 17:00-18:30.
Fyrirlesturinn fer fram á ensku og eru allir velkomnir.
—
Obvara – Ceramics – Bio-Sonification – Music – Experiments
On Tuesday October 30 an open lecture by Tosca Teran will be held at the Reykjavik School of Visual Arts in cooperation with the Icelandic Ceramics Union.
Tosca Teran, aka Nanotopia, is a Toronto based multidisciplinary artist. Born in San Francisco, California, Tosca relocated to Canada in 2001. Working with metals, computer coding, and animation since the mid-eighties, Tosca was introduced to glass as an artistic medium in 2004. Through developing bodies of work incorporating metal, glass, and electronics, Tosca has been awarded scholarships at The Corning Museum of Glass, Pilchuck Glass School and The Penland School of Crafts. Her work has been featured at SOFA New York, Culture Canada, Metalsmith Magazine, The Toronto Design Exchange, and the Memphis Metal Museum. Most recently, Tosca has been awarded residencies at Gullkistan Centre for Creativity, Nes artist residency Iceland, The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists and the Ayatana SciArt Research Program in Ottawa. Tosca founded nanopod: Hybrid Studio maker space in 2005. Continually exploring new materials and tools, Tosca started collaborating artistically with Algae, Physarum polycephalum, and Mycelium in 2016, translating biodata from non-human organisms into music.
The lecture will be held in english and is open to all.
Ecovative GIY Artist Spotlight:
https://ecovativedesign.com/blog/178
Ecovative’s interview took place during an artist residency in Iceland where I was working with (amongst other things) Ecovative’s GIY materials.
The next installation and performance I will be working with over 100 pounds of Mycelium!
The bulk of the Mycelium will be grown from more of Ecovative’s GIY material as well as the following -Edible- grow blocks from Wylie Mycologicals :
Pleurotus citrinopileatus, the golden oyster mushroom (tamogitake in Japanese)
The super gorgeous, Pleurotus djamor, commonly known as the pink oyster mushroom.
Pleurotus ostreatus, the oyster mushroom, is a common edible mushroom.
Hericium erinaceus (also called lion’s mane mushroom, monkey head mushroom,[1] bearded tooth mushroom, satyr’s beard, bearded hedgehog mushroom, pom pom mushroom, or bearded tooth fungus) is an edible and medicinal mushroom belonging to the tooth fungus group.
The lingzhi mushroom is a species complex that encompasses several fungal species of the genus Ganoderma, most commonly the closely related species Ganoderma lucidum, Ganoderma tsugae, and Ganoderma lingzhi. For centuries, G. lingzhi has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for its medicinal properties.
And from Fungi Perfecti (Paul Stamets!)
This fascinating variant of the Reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum s.l.) produces long, tendril-like mushrooms or “antlers” that grow slowly within the sealed environment of the spawn bag that envelops it. The resulting forest of fungi can be harvested for tea, or allowed to dry as a spectacular piece of natural sculpture.
I intend to sculpt with all of the grow blocks and just wait to see what happens! Will the Mycelium fruit? WIll the sculptures burst out in all directions and these amazing mushrooms appear?
The other day I heard from Fungi Perfecti HQ who wrote me the following:
Meanwhile, workshops are scheduled for September working with Ecovative substrate and workshops are currently being scheduled to build your own BIO SONIFICATION MODULE! I will be teaching anyone interested how-to start collaborating with nature through Bio-Sonification! I am super excited to share these kits. The Bio-Module kits will include the circuit board, components, DIY enclosures, Arduino code and more! Keep your eyes peeled on my workshop schedules and/or subscribe to the Studio newsletter/mailing list thing.
These upcoming workshops will be taking place in nanopod’s second location called, Baba Yaga Collective. Located at 906 Queen Street West.
I would like to thank the Canada Arts Council for their generous support towards my research in renewable, bio-sculpting materials.
“Enriching the lives of Canadians by supporting a vital and diverse arts sector”
• We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
• Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
As well as the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council towards my further bacterial and yeast experiements:
Looking for renewable, sustainable, bio-sculpting materials.
Researching lichen, moss and Mycelium during my residency in Iceland.
Which I intend to continue when I return to Toronto.
Other materials I have been growing are Scobys, which have proven a little tricky here (in Iceland). Perhaps this is due to the ingredients I’ve used. I’ve been unable to locate a really strong Kombucha to add to a Scoby base, in order to speed up the process. Over the month of June, I managed to grow a thin Scoby. As it is drying, however, it is proving to be too thin and fragile.
Scoby stretched out to dry.
Meanwhile, the Mycelium continues to grow. Up at Nes artist residency I started a Hexagon shape, which is now fruiting! 
Saturday evening I recorded the Biodata and uploaded these sounds to Soundcloud:
It’s not the greatest mix-down, but my equipment here is limited.
Something I am anxious to get started on is Bio-filament. Last year (I think it was last year?) I participated in a 3D printer workshop at Interaccess in order to gain access to their printers. Interaccess is a membership based New Media Maker’s space in Toronto. They have a lot of tools and equipment available for use and they also offer interesting workshops. Anyways, at the time I inquired with the Tech manager there if DIY filament was allowed as I intend to experiment and explore possibilities with soil, Scoby material and Mycelium! They said YES! So, now is as good a time as any. I’ve been researching various Extruder kits and fully assembled versions available. This is the one I went with: The Felfil EVO https://felfil.com/shop/felfil-evo-assembled/
Many reasons I went with the Evo. For one this baby can travel with me! So, I can play with Algae next time I return to Iceland or a coastal town.
Then something amazing happened. I received an email notification from the Canada Arts Council congratulating me on receiving a grant proposal I had sent in back in February. The Canada Council Arts Abroad program, this funding will assist me moving forward. Iceland is expensive!
Then Kai Parthy founder/experimenter over at Lay Filaments said, “…send me what diameter your 3D printer uses and I will send you a bunch of GrowLay to experiement with, on the house!” WOW! 
GrowLay is made for growing Mycelium, moulds, bacteria, plants onto/into 3D printed sculptures!
Now the question is: How large can I print on the UltiMaker? I plan to divide my models into sections in order to create life size renderings and I still intend to work with Ecovative’s sculpting nutrient. Which is also waiting for me to return home!
I would like to thank the Canada Arts Council for their generous support towards my research in renewable, bio-sculpting materials.
“Enriching the lives of Canadians by supporting a vital and diverse arts sector”
• We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
• Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
More of a Blog post:
In the words of Alyssa Edwards, ‘Back back back again!’ I arrived in Iceland May 29th, headed up to NES artist residency June 1st to participate in their 10th anniversary celebrations. Myself and 8 other alumni were invited to teach workshops, host performances and installations for the month of June.
Goofs: Emma, Nicole Shaver, Bert, Kerryn (co-director), Jérérmy, Sophie Gee aka Nervous Hunter)
According to Vicky O’Shae the NES board of directors invited me exclusively. My time up in Skagaströnd was essentially to teach a 4 week Metal + Glass course to locals. Which I did! And it was super fun, super great people/students!
Goal: return to teach more, start-up a studio similar to nanopod: Hybrid Studio back in Toronto. oh yeah, I am still in Iceland. Only now I am back in Laugarvatn at Gullkistan Centre for Creativity. 🙂 A bit of my own personal alumni celebration.
In my class were:
Almar
Elsa
Jóhanna
Kristin
Gu∂laug
Hugrún
Gunnur and Erna (sadly not in this pic)
LtoR: Kristín, Gu∂laug, Almar, some weirdo, Elsa w/her happy boots, Jóhanna. xoxo
They rocked it!
Even though I packed up 2 large suitcases weighing over 100lbs there were still missing items. I won’t lie some aspects of teaching the course were very challenging simply in locating alternatives. But I now know how to make my own ferric chloride- which is waaay stronger than what I can easily purchase in Toronto. The class learned how to torch fire vitreous enamel, etch copper/brass using PNP blue paper and oil paint sharpies, cast metal using cuttlefish bone as a mould. Form rings, solder (sweat, joint), fold-form a la Charles Lewton-Brain. My biggest take away was how resilient the students were and their Go for it! attitude. We had a torch literally explode fire all over me (no one was burnt or hurt!) and we all remained patient with our English to Icelandic translations and Icelandic to English. I LOVED my time with these people. 🙂
Back at M3 (where I lived for June) I resided with artists, Ron Linn and Jérémy Pailler. Extreme Gentlemen these two. Amazing artists. We discovered that we are all leos, too. Born within the same week (years apart, tho ;p). Haha… yeah.
Quietly I grew Mycelium in my bedroom closet. :p and later in the month several artists allowed me to record their bio-sonifications. Everyone was very different (naturally) and interestingly I found their ‘sounds’ fit their practice. Artist and NES intern, Georgia Bates conducted an interview of me recording Kerryn McMurdo’s bio-rhythms. Kerryn is a co-director at NES and dancer/performer.
Ron Linn
Danielle Rante
Artsit/intern: Ed Lawrenson
Tosca would like to thank the Canada Arts Council for their generous support towards her research in renewable, bio-sculpting materials.
“Enriching the lives of Canadians by supporting a vital and diverse arts sector”
• We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
• Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
Tosca Teran 
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