Get Down Series

In 2009, in response to growing economic, environmental, social, and political instability, I created a series of whimsical papercuts exploring themes of energy descent and economic bubbles. Fifteen years later, I revisited these images with the idea of using them as stencils for mushroom spore print art.

At the time, I was navigating significant physical challenges, including diminished mobility and motor control that limited what I could accomplish in my studio. In response, I found solace in the woods, learning to identify, harvest, and build relationships with local mushrooms. After more than a decade of community activism, I had entered a period of reflection, reevaluation, and reimagining—questioning long-held strategies and exploring new ways of cultivating resilience and meaningful change.

The Get Down series emerged from this convergence of motivating limited circumstances. They are the embodied personal process of finding limitless potential within my own limits. Created through the collaboration of fungi, paper, and time, these works are artifacts of a personal and collective search for new pathways toward energy descent, ecological awareness, and community resilience.