Sharlene Durfey, Artist and Connector

I often introduce myself as a mushroom artist these days just to see the reaction. However, I come with over 20 years experience working with photography, graphics and textile design. I was a fashion designer also and created my own brand, twice. However, over the past 5 years, I found a calling to explore nature and realized that I am nature. Once I discovered the world of fungi and the diversity of its fruiting bodies (mushrooms), I was flooded with a whole new world of inspiration. The current fascination of fungi across the planet is no surprise to me. I am obsessed with all the ways in which fungi help the planet and humans. The innovations currently happening with fungi are mind-blowing! As I learn more about them, they aren’t just a pretty growth in the forest, they are a wise and experienced being that has been here long before us, before dinosaurs, and are even responsible for plant life. Without them, the world as we know it would literally cease to exist. In an era of major environmental concern, we need to protect the Funga. I like to help people see them in a different way. Inspiring reverence for our fungi world. We have so much to learn from them.