Cutchogue East fourth graders cultivated their knowledge of ceramics and ecology to create the “Mushroom Forest” art project, currently being displayed in the annual
Parrish Art Museum’s 2026 Student Exhibition in Watermill from March 7 through April 26. The exhibit is a cherished annual tradition which showcases the creativity of more than 1,000 artists from 50 schools across Eastern Long Island.  Art teacher Devon Costello explained that the students had been practicing the score
and slip method of attaching clay pieces. A student had come up with the idea of attaching a mushroom cap to a stem and then turning it into a fairy house, the basis of the current art piece.

The students first rolled a coil to form a stem and used their knowledge of creating pinch pots to essentially create a pinch pot for the mushroom cap. The students also used big tree trunks as pedestals for their glazed ceramic sculptures as a dynamic way to present their artwork and demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between mushroom mycelium and different species of trees. The art piece also connects to the exhibit’s theme about Long Island’s ecology and joins other works incorporating mushrooms, fungus and shelf mushrooms that grow on the sides of trees. The district congratulates the fourth grade class on this beautiful artwork and
would like to invite the community to take time to view this special artwork at the Parrish Art Museum.