OKLAHOMA CITY — In an unassuming, otherwise drab part of the NW 23rd and Penn area, there sits a single, strange window display promising art, color, and more than a little weirdness.
Above the doors, there’s a sign with a name and a word that is almost definitely unfamiliar to most: Mycelium Gallery.
It means inter-connected, underground growth and networks that feed and thrive in the wet, buried darkness. It means mushrooms and fungi.
It might not be a name you’d expect for a community gallery and art space in Oklahoma City.
But anyone who feels curious and ventures inside will find themselves surrounded in every direction by the tools, products, and philosophies of unfettered creativity and artistic expression, all adorned across the black walls helping the vibrant acrylics and crafts to pop.
Overhead, there’s a smattering of color-shifting clouds and the branches and tendrils of a papercraft tree stretching out through the industrial, warehouse-style ceiling.
Everything feels handmade and DIY and lovingly crafted by the human hands of a painter, sculptor, or jewelry and clothing designer.
“We definitely have a different vibe than a lot of other art spaces,” artist and Mycelium co-owner/founder Alana Anderson said. “People who may typically not be accepted into other art galleries, I think, could really feel at home here.”
From seed to sprout
When Anderson and co-owners Barclay Howarth and Gwynivere Langer first decided to pool their artistic inclinations and open an all-indie, DIY immersive gallery in early 2023, the intention was all about serving the local community and providing a supportive, communal space for artists.
They used the space to create a connected group of immersive, nature-themed rooms with fake grass on the floors and a room-sized papier-mâché mushroom where visitors could enter and view artworks and pieces inside.
The only problem was that the space was way up at N. May and Britton Rd. in a part of town that most scenesters would consider to be practically Edmond.
The gallery had some modest success with early artist showcases and their regular Mycelium Session events featuring communal art, work groups, and immersive ambient music performance.
But there was no denying that it was hard to get a foothold in the arts community being that far away from the inner city where indie art and performance thrive.
“It felt like a whole other world up there,” Anderson said.
Knowing that the gallery could better serve the artists and creators at the heart of its mission by being further south and more accessible, the team set their sights on the space at 23rd and Penn and finally got the green light to move at the beginning of this year.
“We originally thought we’d be in the other space for a lot longer, but as soon as this opportunity came up, we knew we had to jump on it,” Anderson said. “There’s so much more room and we can have classes and shows and really make this a space that’s ours.”
Teaching, making, and playing
Since the gallery’s original inception – and even more so since the big move and re-opening in March of this year – the seeds of Mycelium have grown from a place for the core collective to display their works to a community engagement space focused on fostering new and blossoming artists.
“Since we’ve started having classes, more and more people have started coming in,” Anderson said. “Now I think we have at least eight classes coming up just in the next month.”
Those art and craft classes cover everything from embroidery, macramé, and ink work to the lesser-known media of sunlight-dried SolarFast art-making and even gelli plates.
“Gelli plate uses a kind of silicon pad to transfer paint and uses it like a kind of printing medium,” Anderson explained. “And it’s a monotype, so every time you make one, that’s going to be the only one just like that. It’s really cool.”
Anderson explained that the idea of uniquely singular and handmade artwork is at the center of Mycelium’s philosophy.
“Our inspiration is definitely nature and the forest and that sort of thing,” she said. “And we work with so many donated materials, so that lends itself to the idea that we can’t really reproduce these things, because the materials just come and go.”
That same transitional feeling even extends to the performances and gatherings in the space, particularly the monthly Mycelium Sessions that feature open art-making, free bespoke coloring pages, and live music by electronic/ambient producer Arman Sikder, has become the de facto house musician with his alter-ego Exmaxhina.
“Mycelium Gallery needed sound that made you feel like you were feeling something new for the first time, every time,” Sikder told me. “The music and the sessions have a very loose structure, so jamming live while feeling the energy of the space has been really meditative for me.”
Always growing
Both the gallery and the tight-knit collective of artists at its core are already looking ahead to a new season of growth and expansion inside the new space and out.
They’re already working on a bigger and wilder version of the old space’s immersive mushroom, a broader expansion of the classes and community performances, and even several off-site collaborations.
“We’ll be partnering closely with the Oklahoma Mushroom Festival this year at the Fairgrounds,” Anderson said, “and we’re working on a new immersive build with The Artist Closet and Crystal Gazers Collective at the Up Together Venue in Norman.”
Along the way, the hope is to continue collecting artists, performers, collaborators, and friends to help spread the word of the odd little gallery with the weird name and the space for outsiders of all kinds who maybe haven’t found a home for their creativity anywhere else.
“I started attending the gallery’s monthly art shows and have never felt more at home being around so many other creatives,” said local musician, podcaster, and photographer David Steele. “I was having a hard time transitioning back into regular life after the pandemic, and Mycelium helped me in regaining my confidence as a creator as well as reigniting my love for the creative community in Oklahoma City.”
For more information about Mycelium Gallery, including signups for art and craft classes, their monthly Mycelium Sessions, and the upcoming “Flora, Fauna, & Fungi” show July 20th, featuring over 30 local artists’ works, visit myceliumgallery.com and follow @myceliumgallery on Instagram.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.