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Val

@valaurel.studio

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Conceptual Artist
Resident mushroom cultivation expert at @chitownbio
Chicago Head TA for @howtogrowalmostanything
Songwriter of @mushmush.wav

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Hey Y’all!!

We’ve got an epic Sunday Matinee show coming up to kick off Halloween week right. We’re debuting some artist proof merch made by @valaurel.studio and @bresantoro . They’re upcycled thrifted natural fiber shirts with freeform cyanotype details. Come in costume or buy a shirt to be part of the seasonal amphibian pond. (Collective costumes anyone 👀👀) making this merch was a blast and a half. Couldn’t have done it without the sun. Shout out to UV radiation. We love her.

Cyanotypes are a historic photo developer. Because they become light fast and bind to their substrate when exposed to UV light. Pro tip, use a diluted wash of hydrogen peroxide and water too deep in the blue hue and value. Artists will often use them in printmaking with negatives printed on mylar or some other clear surface. Whatever is masked stays washable so you can get your image once it’s done developing. We used little foraged bits of plants to make our images. We kept it loose to give it a watery feel. Think underwater kelp forests or the light patterns reflected off of moving water. Only dreamy naturey vibes with this colab.

Our show is this Sunday, 2pm @bookclubchi
Come through if you’re free! It’ll be a party early enough for a school night. Gotta get that good good sleep to reset your brain for Monday’s mind games.

Okey enough poetry
This show is also the unofficial official release of MushMush’s debut single Meteor shower, a song about clumsy last minute plans, how fascist policies disrupt our built and grown environment, and how the strength of the friendship you make along the way, decide your fate. In the spirit of the song we’re releasing it for free on YouTube and [untitled]. Major streaming services TBD. Val has to finish their existencial crisis abt the ethics of the entertainment_dystopian industry first and lock in to find the least exploitive distributor and do all the ascap and trademark paperwork 🫠🫡. With mass distribution under capitalism comes mass surveillance and exploitation.

Anywho, hugs and kisses for reading this long ass description.

Mush Love
MushMush
Lucia Jane
#mushmush #bookclub #indiefolk #forestfunk #

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Hey Howdy Hieeee 💕

We’ve got a lovely costumed matinee Show planned. Come kick off Halloween week with this whimsical lineup. @xytapv and @luscia.jane are literally my favorite musicians in the city rn. We’re gonna transport y’all to a moss covered forest with our synergy hehe.

Guess what I’m gonna be dressed ass 👀🍄

Photos and videos are from our cole’s show and a private gig for @one_thousand_chicagoans
Thanks to everyone who made it out! Y’all make life feel abundant.

Mush Love
MushMush 🍄

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Beer googles be like.

Working on finding the classy yet trashy blend of technical singing and grungy Freeform. Always and forever just figuring it out.

Mush love

MushMush

#mushmush #chicagomusic #indiepop #indiefolk #meteorshower

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ChiTownBio is excited to once again be a node for the popular MIT/Harvard course, this time focused on biomanufacturing! Weekly lectures and recitations will focus on biomanufacturing, from microbial, mammalian, and cell-free systems, to automation technologies, spanning, microfluidics, desktop liquid handling robots, and cloud labs. APPLY TODAY: the deadline is September 11 at 11:59p PT. Visit @howtogrowalmostanything for more info, and click the link in our stories for the application!

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TICKETS AVAILABLE IN OUR BIO

A hands-on introduction to mycelium furniture.

Join artist and designer Val Rose Thompson of Valaurel Studios at Flatline Gallery for an evening exploring how fungi can transform agricultural waste into new materials for furniture and everyday objects.

Handle mycelium-composite samples, learn how they’re grown and processed, and take part in a collective exercise examining what happens to the materials around us after we’re finished with them.

Thursday, September 17 · 6:30–7:30 PM
Flatline Gallery · 1925 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago

Limited capacity. Wine and refreshments will be served.

#cxw2026 #chicagoexhibitionweekend #flatlinegallery

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The Process of writing this strange song gave me hope in the age of climate collapse. Maybe listing to this small part of it will do the same for you. It reminds me that evolution is built out of adaptation and adaptation is learned through iteration. It helps me reframe failure as a natural thing. The one that innovation is built on one that growth results from.

we’ve got a show at Cole’s bar at the end of the month. The date is in our bio.

Mush Love💕🍄
MushMush

#Indifolk #mushmush #chicagomusic #singersongwriters forestpreservesofillinois

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Morning routines be like

#mushmush #indiefolk #chicagomusic #indiepop #morning

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“Tectonic” was written spontaneously in a jam scenario back in 2024. It’s given me some solace after a close friend of mine at the time started dating an ex of mine. It was messy, it was queer, it was austin texas during a gap year after my junior year of collage. I didn’t handle that situation well. I learned a great deal from it. In retrospect, I’m happy for them, but the hurt still lingers. I think conflicting truths can help us triangulate a stabilizing and nuanced position if we give ourselves time to simmer in uncertainty. I wish the folks who inspired this song sustainable love and prosperity.

#chicagoindimusic #indifolk #mushmush #fingerstyle #queermusic

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The end of “How to Grow Your own home” preformed at the secret river show.

#secretrivershow #chicagomusic #mushmush #indiefolk #chicagoriver

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Spring into summer 🌻
I’m jumping in ✨

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Footage from the June Secret River Show. Thank you to @jekiulideculi for filming. Thank you to everyone who came and cheered for our encore. Y’all are my world. Thank you to @urbanrivers for sustaining such an epic floating eco park. The wild mile gives me hope among a feed of pollution. Thank you to @serenajve for building and donating Siren Island to Urban Rivers. It was a joy and a honor to preform on it. Thank you to the king of the river @lawrence_tome_ for your work as a chicago cultural steward and to @hy._.phae for outfitting us yet again for the river show.

Shout out to Steven for driving the Green Room and to Dan for running sound. Y’all make these things possible.

I am, Forever and always, a fan.

#mushmush #indiefolk #chicagomusic #secretrivershow

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