Sam Shoemaker

Building with Mycelium Composites: Strategies for Aquafung and Material Design is now available for free on my website. This 94 page compendium contains everything I wish had known when I started this research in 2015. From strain selection to preservation, this is the step by step guide you can use to build a mushroom boat or composites with living mushroom mycelium. For both new and experienced cultivators. While there’s a wealth of books and open-source information on cultivating gourmet and medicinal mushrooms, there's very little on working with mycelium composites. I am deeply grateful to the many mycologists featured throughout this compendium who have generously guided and informed this work over many years. I completed and published this compendium as part of my Mushroom Boat solo exhibition opening tomorrow (Friday October 10, 6-10pm) at @fulcrumarts in Pasadena, California. I’ll continue to update this document as my research evolves. Feedback is appreciated. There’s plenty of room for everyone😇 I’d also like to develop this compendium into a physical book version. If you’re the person who wants to put that together with me: email me. A big thank you to my editor, Patrick J. Reed @patrickjamesreed

I (we) successfully paddled across the Catalina Channel in a boat made entirely from a single mushroom growing outside my studio. 26.5 miles over 12 hours. Two Harbors -> Cabrillo Marina. A truly unforgettable experience. ⛵️Monday Aug 4: our crew sails to Catalina Island with the mushroom boat with captain @nemo_andre 🌄Aug 5, 6am: paddling begins 😵‍💫Miles 3-9: rough cross swells and currents. Losing sight of land. Moving slowly. I become sick and begin hallucinating shapes in the water. Doubt. @jfreefilm follows in dinghy🎥 credit for still above 🐋Miles 9-17: conditions improve. I break my “carry everything” rule to request an earbud from the crew @patrickjamesreed @lisaskwon for music to regain sanity. Fin whales appear, following me for many miles. Breaching right in front of my boat, swimming directly behind me like a curious dog. Crossing the commercial shipping lane goes smoothly. Lunch from dry bag. 🚢Miles 17-24: turbulent refractory waves and afternoon winds approaching the Cabrillo lighthouse, smoother than expected. ⭐️Miles 24-26.5: splashy chop against 14 knot wind through Marina What’s next: In October my 🍄‍🟫🛶 and the documentation of my journey will be exhibited as an installation in Pasadena @fulcrumarts I will be publishing a FREE downloadable compendium of all my aquafung research+ methodologies in October. A massive evolving document with everything I wish someone had given me 10 years ago. This is the most important part of this project. The open source alternative where artists, students, and amateurs can easily access these tools is long overdue. I’m begging you, take everything I’ve learned and take it further. Katy Ayers made the first canoe, my kayak completed the crossing, and now someone else needs to move this conversation forward. There is serious potential for collaborating with fungi to build materials that don’t pollute our oceans with more plastic. It’s not a silver bullet or an overnight cure to all our problems, but we have to take this potential seriously. More about this project on my website. Thank you to @warholfoundation @pasadenaartalliance @cityofpasadena and @perenchiofoundation for your support

Tummy Time 2025. Ceramic, Ganoderma sinense mushroom cultivated on supplemented oak sawdust Courtesy of the Artist and OCHI. Photo by Deen Babakhyi. @deen.babakhyi @ochigallery Mushroom genetics bred by @terrestrialfungi

I grew this lions mane for eating

Group exhibition opening Thursday @lacc.vama curated by @chilchotarose

Closing reception for my exhibition @fulcrumarts this Saturday 12-5. Last week to see the most exciting thing I’ve ever worked on Documentation by @christopherwphoto This project was made possible with support from the @warholfoundation the @pasadenaartalliance the Perenchio Foundation, and the Pasadena Arts and Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division.

It was a great year. I’d love to be on the weather channel again in 2026. You should see my beautiful exhibition @fulcrumarts in Pasadena before it closes on January 17th. curation @patrickjamesreed 📹 @jfreefilm captain Nemo @tiptoesailing and cousin @son_of_branko This project was made possible with support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Pasadena Art Alliance, the Perenchio Foundation, and the Pasadena Arts and Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division.

Happy new year. I love my wife. RIP Ruben. I made the mushroom boat. A message to my enemies: change your ways! Photo by @willwarasila @badlands_are_singing

Paddling my mushroom boat across the Catalina Channel. 26.5 miles over 12 hours. A fin whale followed me mid channel. This is a clip from my exhibition @fulcrumarts on view through January 17 in Pasadena Wed-Sun 12-5pm. Curated by @patrickjamesreed 🎥 @jfreefilm This project was made possible with support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Pasadena Art Alliance, the Perenchio Foundation, and the Pasadena Arts and Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division.

Startup companies keep offering to decompose our poop and our dead bodies with mushrooms. Do we need their help? Do any of these products actually work? What problems do these companies claim to be solving? Is their evidence and research to support these claims? Can mushrooms deliver us from the sin that festers inside of each every one of us? Talking about @hirodiapers @infinityburial @loopbiotech @pactoutdoors @_net_zero_ and #mycotoilet My 70 minute video is available now on YouTube. Link in bio

My Mushroom Boat exhibition @fulcrumarts is on view through January 17th. Open Wed-Sat 12-5pm Curated by @patrickjamesreed 📷 @christopherwphoto 🎥 @jfreefilm

Contagious Smile, 2025 Ganoderma polychromum LA wild clone, supplemented sawdust, and ceramic. Photo by @deen.babakhyi courtesy of @ochigallery