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Val

@valaurel.studio

1K

followers

1264

following

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

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BFA Installation documentation:
Circular Causality Surface 1 , spring 2025, Illinois felled boxwood, Chicagoland Honey Locust logs, Pearl Oyster mycelium, mixed wood mushroom substrate, Chicagoland foraged moss, Blown glass bowls wood, Sprouting glass collection. 3ft x 6.5ft x4ft

Segmented symbiosis Lamp, Fall 2025, Honey Locust felled in the AIC Sculpture Garden, Cherry wood, 11" blown glass bowl, Laeliocattleya Orchid, orchid substrate, LED strip grow lights.
13" x 13" x 2'

Bowl glass team/co-fabricator
@wildbreee
@firebirdcommunityarts

Vase, sprite and chambered sculpture Glass team/co-fabricators
@oxbowschoolofart
@yshrddy
@mserwa.art
@rachel_brace_glass

Mycelium Genetics from
@northsporemushrooms
@mushruums
@chicagomushroomclub

Orchid from
@rustyexotics taken in SAIC Galleries by @valaurel.studio

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a year ago

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 🍄 taken in Bookclub by @valaurel.studio

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10 days ago

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 by @valaurel.studio

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a month ago

Reshi mycelium, hand forged steel, bent sheet metal and twisted rod stock. Thankful to have made and shown this piece for @spacore and in collaboration with @serenajve ~Sold taken in Co-Prosperity by @valaurel.studio

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3 years ago

Living Lamp 2023
Cherry wood, Honey Locust wood, Ganoderma Lucidium mycelium and mushroom. 12” Blown glass bowl,12 x 14 blown glass top, rotating plants, currently an orchid lives in her, grow lights.

Thank you to @wildbreee for co-fabricating the glass components.

#woodworking #mycology #chicagoartist #furnituredesign #glassblowing taken in Chicago, Illinois by @valaurel.studio

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9 months ago

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! by @valaurel.studio

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a month ago

Sprouting glass, vessels 1 3 4 5 6 7 & 8, 2024, on remnants of an Urban Tree, 2022

#glassblowing #urbanwood #terrarium #terrariumdesign #glasssculpture taken in School of the Art Institute of Chicago by @valaurel.studio

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2 years ago

How to Grow Your Own Home

Abridged for social media,
Filmed in my home town.

Live footage band will be linked after posting.

This song is a taurus rising, structurally fluid moon and a cancer sun

Cover photo from the Chicago Secret River Show by _______

This song was inspired by my experience as a TA and Co-Node lead for MIT and Harvard’s @howtogrowalmostanything (Anywhere) course.

As someone who struggles with hope, and constantly maps out little decisions to scaled patterns, the possibility of scaled community synthetic biology fills me with genuine possibility. It makes me feel that climate change is a solvable problem and that bioremediation with both heirloom and synthetic chassis organisms could heal the devastation that profit oriented land management created both in this country and globally.

If you want to learn that skill you can apply to take the course globally and if you’re in chicago, you can learn from me and our wonderful TA team at @chitownbio

Also for shits and giggles, and for band merch and studio art furniture, I’m working on a plasmid that could in theory make mycelium blue of my target chassis organism. If I’m successful, I’ll move on to more complex designs likely in the realm of water retention and material modification.

Stay Tuned for our Next show.

Tattoo by @f1ngerb1b
Shirt by @hy._.phae

#chicagomusic #mushmush #mushrooms #psychedelicfolk #indimusic taken in Austin, Texas by @valaurel.studio

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3 months ago

So excited to share that I'll be teaching the Mushrooms 101 workshop at ChiTownBio again on Saturday, June 27th, from 2-4pm.

Come learn and practice every step in the mushroom cultivation process and take home a mushroom grow kit and a jar of grain spawn of your very own! You can grab a ticket using the QR code or the link in my bio!

This is also a great opportunity to ask me any questions you might have about mushroom-based composite materials and biomaterials more broadly. Always happy to chat about my studio process. Check out my Instagram page to see some of my gallery work.

#Fungi #RogersPark #ChiTownBio #Mushrooms #workingartist A flier that advertises Mushroom101, the premier mushroom cultivation workshop in Chicago. taken in Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois by @valaurel.studio

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4 months ago

I had a blast making and designing this table with Drew, Debra, and Emma. Thank you all who came to the dinner. I’m still thinking about sympoisis furniture and the holobiont. by @valaurel.studio

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3 years ago

Florissant shiitake mycelium metabolites. #chicagomushroomclub #mycroscopy #mycelium #microcosmos taken in Chicago, Illinois by @valaurel.studio

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2 years ago

I’m making yapping videos now. taken in Austin, Texas by @valaurel.studio

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3 months ago