Resources
WEB
International Mushroom Dye Institute (IMDI) website
The complete history of the IMDI founded in 1985 by Miriam and colleagues, along with examples of the products of Miriam’s research.
BOOKS
Miriam C. Rice, “Let’s Try Mushrooms for Color”, Thresh Publications, Santa Rosa, CA. 1974
Miriam C, Rice, “Mushrooms for Color”, Mad River Press. Eureka, CA. 1980
Carla & Erik Sundström, Miriam Rice, “Skapa av Svampfärgat” Garn, ICA Bokförlag Västerås, Sweden 1985
Miriam C. Rice, “Mushrooms for Dyes, Paper, Pigments & Myco-Stix”, Mushrooms for Color Press, Forestville, CA 2007
Miriam C. Rice, Mushrooms for Dyes, Paper, Pigments & Myco-Stix “, A comprehensive guide to the possibilities presented by mushrooms for dyeing and fine art making. Available for purchase from Fungi Perfecti.
ARTICLES
Miriam C. Rice, “Mushrooms for Color”, University of Washington, Arboretum Bulletin, Susan Libonati-Barnes, Editor, Vol.44, No.3, Autumn 1981, pp. 6-11
Miriam Rice, “Dyes from Mushrooms, A Spectrum of Extraordinary Color”, Threads Magazine, April/May 1987, pp. 44-47
Miriam C. Rice, “Mushrooms for Color”, Brooklyn Botanical Garden Record, Vol. 46, No 2, Dyes from Nature, Rita Buchanan, Editor, Summer 1990, pp.42–25
Miriam C. Rice, “Fine Paper from Mushrooms”, Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming, Winter 1991- 1992, pp. 21-22
Miriam C. Rice, “Part Two of Making Paper from Mushrooms”, Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming, Summer 1992, pp. 22-26
Miriam Rice “Mushrooms for Color”, Turkey Red Journal, Volume 4, Issue 2, August 1998, pp. 1-4
BOOKS by other authors
Lauren MacDonald, “In Pursuit of Color”, Atelier Editions, Los Angeles, CA. 2023
ARTICLES by other authors
“The Colorful Mushrooms”, by Ida Geary, Novato Advance, December 18, 1974
“More About Mushroom Dyes”, by Ida Geary, Novato Advance, February 25, 1975
“Mushroom Dyes”, by Sandra Metzler-Smith. Spindle, Shuttle & Dyepot, (Year?). pp. 53-66
“Mushrooms Yield Kaleidoscope of Color”, The Mendocino Grapevine, September 9, 1976
“The Mushroom Magic of Miriam Rice”, by Yvonne Pepin, Mendocino Beacon, November 8, 1984, pp. 18
“Miriam and Mushrooms for Color”, by Liselotte Erlanger, Mendocino Art Center Arts & Entertainment, September 1988, pp. 16-20
“A Life of Possibilities” by Char Bishop, The Mendocino Beacon, Thursday, March 12,1998
“Miriam Rice Retrospective Celebrates a Lifetime in the Arts”, by Mira Porter, Mendocino Art Center Arts & Entertainment, March 1998, pp. 9-12
“Fungal Bloom”, by P. Joseph Potoki, The Bohemian 07.23.08 – 07.22.0, pp. 23
“Miriam C. Rice and Mushrooms for Color”, by Dorothy M. Beebee. Turkey Red Journal, Volume 14, Issue 1, Fall 2008, pp. 1-4,
In a brief history traced over 30 years of the many contributions Miriam made to the field of natural dyes, as recalled by her long time friend and “documentarian,’ Dorothy Beebee. The article follows the discovery of mushroom dyes by Miriam C. Rice, her experimentation into the realms of Polypore Papermaking, fungal watercolor pigments, and the penultimate drawing tools she called “Myco-‘Stix”.
“History and Art of Mushrooms for Color” by Dorothy M. Beebee, McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Technology, 2009, pp. 159-161
“Letters from Miriam” by Dorothy Beebee, Turkey Red Journal, Volume 16, Issue 1, Fall 2010
In a tribute to the late Miriam C. Rice, Dorothy Beebee remembers the decades of delightful oral and written communications with the maven of mushroom dyeing: “Miriam spoke and hand-wrote her letters with an elegance and grace that is almost non-existent in this today’s texting-emailing-facebooking world ~ to read her words again is to hear her Voice, to share her exuberance, and to delight in her constant daily discoveries over the dyepot.”
“Mushrooms as a Source of Color” by Susan Hopkins, North American Mycological Association (NAMA), 2015
MIRIAM’S REFERENCE LIBRARY
Over 250 items, both books and magazines, are held at Pacific Textile Arts in Fort Bragg, CA in Miriam’s personal natural dye reference library, with a focus on dyeing with fungi: Miriam C Rice reference library bibliography.pdf or Miriam C Rice reference library bibliography.xlsx.
ARCHIVE OF MIRIAM’S PAPERS
The Miriam C. and Raymond Rice Papers rest in Special Collections at the UC Santa Cruz Library. These archives include Miriam’s research into mushroom dyeing, letters, articles and more. The Rice Family donated these materials to preserve them for all who are curious about their important work, now and into the future. A collection guide allows researchers to find all items online and call up the physical entries to the Reading Room of Special Collections. To learn more about the Miriam C. and Ray Rice Papers, please contact Alix Norton at abnorton@ucsc.edu.
VIDEOS
Mushrooms for Color and Mushrooms for Paper
Mushrooms for Color: Dyeing with Fungi (1988) chronicles more than 20 years of Miriam C. Rice’s research and offers a fascinating glimpse into Rice’s methods for extracting the full spectrum of colors she discovered, as well as the excitement generated by her finds in the fibre arts community worldwide. This history is followed by Mushrooms for Paper: Papermaking with Polypores (1993), a step-by-step guide demonstrated by Rice herself, to the method she developed for making truly gorgeous papers from mushrooms. 40 minutes, NTSC format, region-free. These two videos are an excellent addition to the book Mushrooms for Dyes, Paper, Pigments & Myco-Stix™ by Miriam C. Rice. Streaming free of charge here.
Try It and See: The Story Behind the Discovery of Mushroom Dyes
A beautiful tribute produced by her children, Myra and Martin Beebee, Try It and See captures the early history of mushroom dyeing as told by Dorothy Beebee, Miriam Rice’s close friend and colleague in all things mushroom. Though mushrooms are now widely used as a source for natural dyes, many dyers today may not know that it all began with an accidental discovery by Miriam Rice, an artist from Mendocino, California. Miriam would later write the first book on using mushrooms as a new source of natural dyes in the 1970’s called “Let’s Try Mushrooms for Color.” This groundbreaking dye book was illustrated by Dorothy Beebee.
Here, Dorothy gives us a behind the scenes look into the discovery of mushroom dyes, the expansion of their work into two additional books, and her thoughts on the future of mushroom dyes. For more information about the history of mushroom dyes in Northern California, please visit mushroomsforcolor.com. Streaming free of charge soon.
Mushroom Vignettes, 2011 video interview with Nancy Denison, IMDI board member A history of Miriam’s discovery of the secrets of mushroom dyes as told by her close friend and colleague.
Lila Miller: 2020 Senior Exhibition – Experimental Dyeing With Fungi Lila Miller is a graduating senior from The Putney School in Vermont. She spent her whole life in New York City prior to attending high school. While at school, she developed an interest in fiber arts, first through weaving and then through natural dyeing. Her senior project was a culmination of 3 months spent learning about and experimenting with mushrooms and lichen dyes. She tells Miriam Rice’s story eloquently and tributes Miriam Rice with the research that allowed her to explore dyeing with fungi.