MycoRant

Mushrooms are cute. At least some of them are. And whether people like to eat them or not, and whether or not people understand their ecological importance, almost everyone will agree that  they make darned good fantasy creatures and scenery. They make for some pretty cute dolls too.

The Cute Shrooms of Mushroomland

Mama Chanterelle and Her Children

Some of the cutest mushrooms around can be found at a place called Mushroomland. Mushroomland is the brain child of Natasha Guruleva. Natasha was born in Eastern Russia to a family of geologists, and every summer during her school years, she spent time in the woods.

“And not just any woods,” Natasha explains,  “but in the  magnificent and extraordinary forest of the Sikhote-Alin Mountain Range that spreads north of Vladivostok, along the Russian pacific coast. Only there you can see a tropical liana climbing up the trunk of the taiga tree, or reindeer running from a leopard (Amur leopard it is). The most ancient trees in these woods are a millennium-old! People who saw Akira Kurosawa’s “Dersu Uzala” might remember the grandeur of the region–the film was shot right there.”

The PurpleToadstool Family

This exposure to nature in all its glory during her formative years had a profound effect on Natasha. And it was then that she developed what would turn into a life-long fascination with mushrooms.

From Childhood Memory, an Idea

Natasha continues with her story. “In my wonder years, the forest was my dollhouse. And how I played–with absolutely everything that grows there. Mushrooms as well. I was aware that people and animals eat them, because every year we spent numerous weekends mushroom-hunting. But besides all that, I always knew that mushrooms are very special creatures. I saw them as little guardians of the forest (not knowing at that time that they truly are!), and as protectors of other creatures like fragile flowers and mighty trees. In my own childish tales they always had special powers and special roles.”

As an adult, Natasha went on to study biology, and earned a masters degree, and then she became a journalist. Yet, her love of mushrooms remained.

When she moved to the United States her career as a journalist came to an end, but the storytelling urge remained. While working to improve her English skills, Natasha decided that she knew enough of the language to try her hand at writing for children. Naturally, mushrooms came to the forefront of her imagination.

Adventures of Little Herbert in Mushroomland

“I wrote my first fairytale ‘Adventures of Little Herbert in Mushroomland’, in which my beloved mushroom characters help a human boy to learn… basically to ‘be human’, while pretending to be a mushroom. I asked an artist friend of mine to do the illustrations, and he said that it would be too trivial. He recommend that I make character-dolls instead (I was always good at working with my hands) and use photography as an illustration medium.”

Cover of "Little Herbert in Mushroomland" by Natasha Guruleva

She followed this advice and when her characters  Grandpa Boletus, his grandkids Bolly and Tolly, and their friend Chanterelle were created she knew she was onto something. It just seemed to work for her. “I became
hooked on the idea of making a stop-frame animation based on the story in Mushroomland. My husband helped me build Forest Town which is set in the woods, and then my characters began acting.”

After three years, the film was finished. “What bliss it was watching the little mushrooms pacing the paths, playing with each other, and saving the forest from Giant Slug…,” she recounts. “Every time I feel low I play this movie it never fails to excite me. Other viewers have told me that they look at nature differently after watching Herbert in Mushroomland.”

Once the film was completed, Natasha approached a few agents trying to get help in finding a publisher. Some read and liked the story, but had a problem with mushrooms as main characters. “They told me that Americans are mostly scared of mushrooms, that I should change them to more commercially feasible dogs or dinosaurs.” Obviously, these were not the right agents for Mushroomland.

While showing mushroom-characters (the ones featured in the movie) to some toy-people she was advised to produce a few real dolls, since what they perceived as “prototypes” conveyed that the project was too undeveloped. So, Guruleva started making doll-characters, while continuing to write tales about the forest, and the continuing adventures of Herbert and his mushroom friends.  There have been two sequels which feature her mushroom characters helping the people of the Flower Kingdom and the Butterfly Empire.

Mushroomland.net

Natasha still had not found a proper distribution channel for her creations. “I was ready to push forward with more colorful presentations. I looked for publishers, producers, and manufacturers, but the economic crisis was in full bloom, meaning that finding some entity to invest into a completely new, unproven, marketable project was impossible.”

So, she did what every almost every American dreams of doing at some point–she went into business for herself. “Let it be super-small, super-slow, but Mushroomland should go on,” she thought.

A Happy Equinox Card from Mushroomland

That was a year ago. Since then, Guruleva and her husband have exhibited their creations at arts and crafts festivals and fairs on Long Island. Last year they had a great time at the Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square, PA. Their films have been presented by a few local TV networks.

“We self-published 16 colorful books and our kind and whimsical mushroom-characters were featured on mostmost.net. We hope a few reviews will be published in mushroom and nature related magazines, and we do hope to finally meet somebody who’ll help us to find financing so we can produce slicker, entertaining and educational computer animated Mushroomland TV programs, books and dolls.”

No matter what happens, Natasha says she will continue on just as her mushroom characters do. “If the weather is unfavorable,” she reflects, “they just have fewer fruiting bodies, but the mycelium keeps living. And so do we.”

Disclosure: Mushroom land is a MycoRant sponsor.

Tags: animation, mushroom dolls, mushroom film, mushroomland, Natasha Guruleva