October 2016 Black Light Show Mushroom Installation at Studio 23

I created this hand painted print for the Studio 23 Black Light Show the previous year. It was inspired by real bio luminescent mushrooms that I observed at the SF Academy of Sciences Color Exhibit. Each print was hand painted with glow-in-the-dark paint. My goal was to make an image that looked good in all three types of lighting - natural, black light and darkness.

natural light view

 

black light view

I decided to go into three dimensions with glow-in-the-dark terrariums. I created eight of varying sizes, with different kinds of moss, pebbles and glowing mushrooms.

prepping the mushrooms

The mushroom terrariums in the black light installation room:

 

 

We also installed a large sheet of paper which we titled "The Bio Lumina Doodle Board." People of all ages participated in decorating the board with glow-in-the-dark pens and paint. Here is a short video to give you an idea of the variety of fun sketches and doodles (lots of Pokemon characters here!):

The Bio Lumina Doodle Board #blacklightshow #studio23 #blacklighr #doodle #doodleboard #alameda #alamedaart #interactiveart #artinstallation #glowingmushroom

A video posted by Tina Banda (@tina_banda) on Oct 14, 2016 at 10:10pm PDT

Thanks to Wesley and Jessica Warren for allowing me to create this installation in their studio. It was an interesting and fun experiment. There were some things I would do differently, such as preparing more art for the wall, but overall I thought it was a success and I hope to do another installation sometime in the next two years or so.