Mycelium Dough: Sculpting with Living Materials
Led by Sasha Fishman + Lera Niemackl
February 22, 2025 from 1–3pm hosted at Murmurs.
$60 per participant | A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to support wildfire relief efforts in LA.
Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

Join Sasha Fishman and Lera Niemackl in a hands on workshop where participants will be an able to sculpt a living dough that will grow into mycelium—the living roots of mushrooms. Unlike traditional methods of growing mycelium in molds, Sasha and Lera have developed a unique technique that allows for hand-sculpting and creative manipulation of this dynamic material. Participants will receive bags of living mycelium dough, a blend of reishi mycelium, clay, and paper pulp, and learn how this material grows into cellulose-based surfaces like wood, paper, and cardboard.

The workshop will begin with a presentation on mycelium and its uses in material development, from sustainable design to innovative construction methods. Participants will then dive into hands-on sculpting, creating forms that can be taken home to grow or kept as they are. This workshop offers a chance to rethink our relationship with living materials and explore the potential of mycelium as a medium for a wide range of applications.

Sasha Fishman is a NY based sculptor and researcher. She is particularly interested in marine biomaterials, toxicology and energy harvesting as points for critical analysis and mechanisms for sculpting. She is a recent MFA Sculpture graduate from Columbia University where she collaborated with labs on salmon, fountains, and carbon capture materials. Sasha is a 2024 Puffins Grant recipient and a current Artist in Residence at Smack Mellon.

Lera Niemackl is a Los Angeles based artist and scientist primarily working with bioengineered systems. She is interested in rethinking traditional scientific frameworks through storytelling and experimenting with novel cell based forms. Lera has been a resident mycologist at the Odin (Austin, TX), she is a founder of Soft Genes, a synthetic biology community and arts collective (LA), and is a current research fellow at Metabolic Studio (LA) working with gut transplants in insects.