Artist Member
Cleave
Accordion book, cyanotypes made with family negatives and plants, acrylic, ribbon, paper, board, 2023
5 x 6 x .5”
A book depicting longings. The word cleave is a contronym – it has two contradictory meanings, each its own opposite. Cleave can mean both “stick together” and “split apart.” An apt word to describe the inherent tensions of life in a family, culture, or civilization. A person is attached and faithful to one’s family or culture, but also at times, and in certain instances, a person (or persons) may wish to separate, to split, or divide from family or society. My own experiences in families and society can attest to this desire for attachment and longing for separateness.
A Blue Herbarium
Accordion book, cyanotypes, paper, board, 2022
4.5 x 5 x .5”
Mushroom spore print images from my New Herbarium series transformed into cyanotypes. Each images depicts plants from the Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts.
Fleance Flew
Concertina field book, paper, board, ribbon, cyanotypes, found Blue Jay feather, 2022
8 x 7.5 x .75”
Dreams in which I fly above the trees are among my favorites; my attraction to birds and their feathers is not surprising. Within these pages are cyanotypes made during an unfettered stay in a Provincetown dune shack. The previous tenant left feathers behind. I made cyanotypes, each different and marked by the sun and the iron-rich well water. The feathers I left behind were tinted blue.
Madge Evers 
www.sporeplay.com
Instagram – @_sporeplay
BIO
Madge Evers is an educator, gardener, and visual artist whose work is informed by the transformative actions of decomposition and regeneration. Referencing the ancient collaboration between fungi and plants called mycorrhiza, her practice involves foraging, the cyanotype process, painting, and book making. She was a 2021 Mass Cultural Council finalist in photography. Her work has been published in Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture and acquired by private and institutional collectors. Artist residencies in Ireland, Virginia, Maine, and at Mount Auburn Cemetery have allowed Madge to interact with new landscapes and their histories. Madge teaches cyanotype workshops to people of all ages; she lives and works in western Massachusetts.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I’m interested in transformation. My work literally depicts plants, fungi, and birds, but more figuratively reflects our entangled dependence with the changing environment. With various media, including the cyanotype process, paint, and an adaptation of the mushroom spore print, I create biomorphic works on paper. I also create unique books with cyanotype imagery. Making books is an enjoyable way to tell (mostly) wordless stories about the natural world’s strangeness and familiarity.