ALL CAPS! | A Celebration in Art and Prose of Mushroom Folk and their Culture
The Mushroom Folk are a group of characters from a Native American fantasy world I created in 2012. In this world a natural disaster known as “The Great Fall” struck the Americas in the 1840’s just after the removal of First Americans of the southeastern tribes from their homelands and leaving the lands of the Great Plains as one of the few habitable areas on the continent. With this natural disaster came the strange effects of magic and magical creatures in the land. This included the appearance of the Mushroom Folk in the area once known as as New Orleans. The following is an excerpt written by Ebrnt Tendigrads, a half Cherokee half Irish shaman of the Cherokee tribe.
Some tribes say the great fall was simply a natural occurrence. That the earth is in constant flux and that the layers of our Mother shifted in such a way that the Eastern and Western seaboards experienced massive earthquakes and tidal waves, leaving what we in our reality know as Southern and Western prairies to be the most inhabitable lands of North America. Others point to the Great Octopod that sleeps at the bottom of the ocean. The creature was so large that three of its tentacles are in the Great Eastern Ocean while the other five are in the Great Western Ocean. These tribes believe that the Great Octopod adjusted itself during his eternal sleep and caused the massive disaster. The lands mainly thought of as the Lands of the White Settlers were no more. Everything east of the Mississippi River was underwater. The lands that we know as Mississippi, Missouri, and Louisiana became unimaginable swampland where massive reptilian beasts roamed. All of California and half of Nevada fell into the sea. Much of Mexico also fell. The lands to the north were fairly intact. But the Continent of North America was unrecognizable. And the First Nation People, who had been pushed out of their homes and relocated to the center of of the land had mostly avoided the tragic end that fell on most of the colonialists.
The land began to see monsters and magical creatures from the old legends of native lore. And the First People found that they were touched by magic, a very tangible magic that varied in power throughout the folk. They found they could alter the weather, create fire, heal the sick and wounded, and even repel the monstrosities that sometimes attacked their towns and villages.
And in the Louisiana swamps the voodoo magic of New Orleans was amplified, causing other life forms to rise and form a society of spiritual creatures that begin to rebuild the city in a form that was true to their vision. The Mushroom People evolved from the combination of molded vegetation, magical anomalies and voodoo to claim the city.
The Mushroom People are highly sentient magic users and use their magic to heal the land and creatures around their magnificent city. They also have the ability to reshape themselves and even split their form into multiple sections. Mushroom folk have psionic abilities and are very creative with earth and water based magic. They became fascinated with the history of man and although they despise the actions and philosophies of the former human occupants of the city many of their styles in architecture and art are created as embellishments of the inherent French styles of New Orleans.
The most notable aspect of Mushroom style is their use of ladies dresses. Although mushroom people are agender, they most commonly change their shape to fit the form of the beautiful dresses once worn by the elite women of New Orleans. And so it is that Mushroom People usually appear as female.
The Mushroom community is peaceful and their ability to charm even the most intelligent beings is their primary defense against those who might cause harm to their community and beloved city. They primarily communicate with the People of The First Nation through telepathy but have been known to speak when it is deemed necessary. It is uncommon for Mushroom People to travel outside of their lands, and even then they will only travel during rainy, humid conditions. The only real enemy of the Mushroom folk is fire. The small elemental swamp drakes that are fire users can seriously damage a Mushroom person if they happen to surprise a fire drake.
The mushroom folks are very small in number, only about 300 actually become sentient at a time. It is believed when the a Mushroom person reaches its end that its spirit simply transfers to a new fungal host and grows into a new mushroom body.
Ebrnt Tendigrads The Mushroom People that have come to our version of the world have studied human behavior and history and find it unbelievable that we continue to try and hide our failings when we could learn so much from them. When they discovered that the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instructions policies concerning the non-education of the history, they offered a plan to tell the darker parts of the human struggle that would be more considerate of the superintendent’s fragile ego.
Gregg Standridge, renowned mushroom folk historian Felicia Highspore and many other poetic friends bring this exhibit of mushroom history to Resonator Institute in July of 2025.
Gregg Standridge - Artist Statement
I think of myself as a multidiscipline artist. I work primarily in wood veneer creating marquetry pieces ranging in size from 4” to as large as 10’ x 16’. I am also a working singer/songwriter/guitarist for hire. I write stories and make stop animation videos too! I love projects that are theme based or conceptual oriented. I don’t mind using my art as a tool to bring awareness to unfairness in our world. My themes include Native American, fantasy, social justice, and nature.
Gregg Standridge Bio
Oklahoma based Choctaw/Cherokee artist, Gregg Standridge, has been creating since 1979. A polymath who has made over 4000 wood art pieces, 14 original music albums, written/produced a full length musical and a novel, Gregg is constantly finding new ways to create. His themes include indigenous subject matter, fantasy and social justice. His current technique of hand cut wood marquetry is influenced by his love of the old Japanese wood block masters such as Katsushika Hokusai. Gregg was a 2023 Thrive Grant recipient through the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition and The Andy Warhol Foundation.
Education
OCCC Associates Fine Arts
USAO Music Performance/Music Education
OCU Masters Music Performance
Private Study with Sheryl Cozad
