<Val Rose Thompson> — HTBAA Fall 2026

About me

Val Thompson is a nationally presenting and exhibiting artist and science communicator. They are also a gigging musician and the songwriter and band lead for MushMush, a local Chicago band that performs monthly. They received their BFA in Art and Technology from the Art Institute of Chicago in 2025. They are currently the Resident Mushroom Cultivation Expert at ChiTownBio and the Head Teaching Assistant for Chicago’s HT(G/B)AA node. They maintain ongoing collaborative relationships with environmental nonprofits around Chicago, such as Urban Rivers and Friends of the Chicago River, and routinely collaborate with scientists on research and educational curricula. They have a bioart and design studio practice grounded in multimedia physical fabrication. Abby Pucker of Gertie Chicago purchased their first major mycelium work, which now resides in her personal collection. They are currently working on a mycelium furniture series that utilizes reclaimed substrate materials that would have otherwise entered the waste streams.

You can buy my unreleased EP and download the original masters at Untitled

If you happen to be in Chicago, you should pull through to my first single release show, MeteorShower. It’s gonna be a cozy matinee at Bookclub on October 25 at 2 pm. It’s a pretty epic venue. Despite the sorted internal Chicago DIY scene drama, it’s the first venue in a long time to successfully scale out of the DIY scene and become a legit tax-paying venue. They worked for years throwing grassroots under-the-table shows, scraped together enough cash to buy the old Elbowroom building, and completely renovated the first floor and basement. The folks there run a tight ship to keep it profitable. I respect the hustle as much as my Drumber’s shigrin. DIY drama, as I said, he used to run a DIY venue in Ukrainian Village. I lived there for a summer while I was in between leases, fresh off of my BFA high. That summer was chaotic. Glad it happened. Glad it’s over. RIP Lot49. Anyway, the lovely singer-songwriter Xyda is opening for us, and the outrageously forest funkadelic Luscia Jane is closing the evening with an open jam. Who cares about headlining order of operations when all your friends are on the bill, am I right? It’s gonna be a fun time. I’ll be drinking tea and wine and having the time of my life.

Contact info

For questions or concerns relating to the Course, ChiTownbio, or mycelium cultivation, please email me at Val@ChiTownBio.org For art, fabrication, or collaboration inquiries, please email me at Val@valaurel.studio or reach out on Instagram. For music inquiries, please email mushmush.band@gmail.com or Dm us on Instagram.

Homework, Labs, and Projects

See the nav bar on the left to look through my work for How To Biomanufacture Almost Anything (Fall 2026)!