by Mike Vernelson

I must start this article by first explaining exactly what a lichen is. A lichen is a special kind of plant that is composed of two completely different organisms, one being blue-green algae, the other being fungus. Both of these organisms grow together in a mutually controlled symbiotic relationship. These two components living together behave as a single independent plant, the algae manufacturing sugar by photosynthesis, and the fungus living off these sugars and making up the bulk of the plant body. No one has ever been able to grow or transplant a lichen in a controlled environment.

As artists in duplicating nature, it is our jobs to find other means of re-creating elements and effects that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to present naturally. That alone has driven me to spending countless hours experimenting with different ways of duplicating mother nature, and I am surely convinced 100 percent there is nothing out there that we can't find a way of reproducing artificially. I'm going to demonstrate making a few different types of lichens using a few different techniques. Because there are thousands of varieties of lichens, keep in mind that different colors and textures are...

...Continued in the Fall 2001 Issue of Breakthrough.

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