Tea Time

Anna Ervin

Hibiscus, bacterial cellulose, mycelium, silk, clay, 2022

This piece is a combination of my mycelium work and my bacterial cellulose work. I grew a round pellicle of bacterial cellulose and dyed it in a bath of hibiscus tea. I then formed it into the shape of a tea-cup and presented it filled with hibiscus leaves, over my mycelium coaster and a table runner that is also dyed with hibiscus tea. It was presented beside a clay teacup that was formed in a similarly organic way and was also upon a coaster. The mycelium coasters were unfinished and still in the mold, as the first iterations (which were made from dry tea herbs) were contaminated and failed.

This piece is an exploration of my own personal connection to sourcing and utilizing materials, to tea, and to care rituals. It is where I could apply my own fascination and care for organic materials to the image of a ritual I commonly partake in, drinking tea.