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Mycological Society of Toronto Meetings

The MST organizes four informative Speaker Series meetings a year for our members, in October, November, February, and March. Guest speakers are invited to give presentations on various topics associated with the field of mycology, usually illustrated with slides. The MST holds its Annual General Meeting in April.

MST meetings are held either via Zoom or in-person at the Auditorium of the Toronto Botanical Garden, located at the southwest corner of Leslie St. and Lawrence Ave. East in Toronto. For General Meetings, meet by 7:30 pm unless indicated otherwise. Refreshments are served following in-person meetings.

Members of the public are welcome as guests to attend one meeting prior to joining the Society.

MST members have access to videos of Speaker Series presentations after each meeting.

 

Meetings for 2022-2023

Speaker Series: Tuesday, May 17, 2022 7:30 p.m.

Speaker: Kathy Vatcher

Presentation: The Tip of the Iceberg - Discoveries in the world of mycology and its important role in our past, present and future

Kathy Vatcher, an accomplished visual artist and educator, lives in Toronto but escapes the city as often as possible to hunt for wild mushrooms. She’s been studying them since joining the Mycological Society of Toronto a decade ago, though her interest began 35 years earlier. A frequent foray leader, she’s helped identify hundreds of species collected on dozens of forays and Bioblitzes. Yet she’s always eager to learn more from both mushroom experts and gifted amateurs. She’s taught mushroom identification at the Mycological Society of Toronto, The Kortright Centre for Conservation, Rouge National Park and for private corporations.

Mushrooms also pop up in her art. During the pandemic, she began creating unique decorative plates, many featuring fungi, that may be viewed at Tectonic Plates on Facebook. She also paints mushrooms, landscapes and portraits of pets and people. And recently she wrote Beatrix Potter Tells Her Tale, a play inspired by Potter’s challenges and contributions to mycology that she hopes to present in the future.

“The study of mycology has something for everyone. Anyone interested in the future of our planet should have an interest in mushrooms.” – Kathy Vatcher

This meeting will be held online via Zoom
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Speaker Series: Tuesday, October 18, 2022 7:30 p.m.

Speaker: Loni Jean Ronnebaum (from Fungi Perfecti)

Presentation: BeeMushroomed, how Fungi can help give bees a chance

Paul Stamets and Fungi Perfecti, makers of Host Defense, have teamed up with Washington State University to study the effects of fungal extracts on bees. Together our efforts have raised over 5 million towards this important cause! We will discuss our past research, future plans and what, as individuals, we can do to give bees a chance.

This meeting will be held online via Zoom
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Loni Jean Ronnebaum aka Ronnebaumanita loniscaria has long been passionate about fungi. She graduated from the Evergreen State College in 2009 with a BS in Mycology and Natural Sciences. In early 2010 she began working in the offices for Fungi Perfecti, presenting at many events around the great PNW. Loni enjoys playing Ukulele as well as drums for the band Inoculated Minds and photographing #googlyeyefungi in her free time. https://fungi.com/blogs/articles/meet-loni

Speaker Series: Tuesday, November 15, 2022 7:30 p.m.

Speaker: Diane Borsato

Presentation: Mushrooming: The Joy of the Quiet Hunt

Diane Borsato’s new book is a lavishly illustrated guide that explores the fascinating, the delicious, the deadly and the strange world of fungi from the forest to the field to the market - and how mushrooming can radically expand our perspectives, connect us to nature, and quietly enrich our lives.

Borsato will discuss several examples of fungi in contemporary art - and how artists use mushrooms to explore the unexpected wilderness of cities, what happens to our bodies after we die, and new ways for us to perceive the world and ourselves.

Mushrooming: The Joy of the Quiet Hunt, Diane Borsato, illustrated by Kelsey Oseid, 2022 Find the book anywhere books are sold in September 2022 in Canada: The book will be released in March 2023 in the US.

This meeting will be held online via Zoom
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Diane Borsato completed an MFA at Concordia in Montreal, and an MA in Performance Studies at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She is an award-winning artist, educator and amateur mycologist and beekeeper - who works closely with other artists and amateur naturalists. She has performed and exhibited in Canada and internationally at venues including the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Power Plant, the AGYU, the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, the Walter Philips Gallery at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Art Centre Fogo Island Arts, the Creative Time Summit, and at the Toronto Biennial of Art. She has been twice nominated for the Sobey Art Award, and she won the prestigious Victor Martin-Lynch Staunton Award, in addition to numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for her work. Diane Borsato is also Associate Professor of Experimental Studio at the University of Guelph in Canada, where she teaches courses exploring live, site-responsive environmental art practices.

Her recent books include Outdoor School: Contemporary Environmental Art (2021) co-edited with Amish Morrell, and MUSHROOMING – A field guide to mushrooms and fungi in contemporary art - launching in Canada in the fall of 2022 and in the US in the spring of 2023. See her work at www.dianeborsato.net

Updated July 11th, 2022

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