OF SPORES AND SPOOLS Asheville fiber artist Amy Reader is felting the forest.
Bracket fungi are hearty mushrooms that grow in clusters on trees, often resembling little shelves. But don’t be fooled: These natural ledges aren’t meant for storing dog-eared paperbacks or displaying your great-grandmother’s collection of ceramic frogs. Instead, they serve as nature’s recyclers, breaking down dead wood and turning it into vital nutrients for the forest ecosystem. Fiber artist Amy Reader developed an appreciation for bracket fungi and other members of the fungi kingdom as a child hiking the mountains of Western North Carolina. “I’ve always found solace and inspiration in the forest,” she tells Asheville Made. “I love stopping to explore small details and little mushrooms and moss and all sorts of things that grow on the ground and trees.”
