Dandelions

My current collections project is about the Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) which was introduced to North America by Europeans. I’m using this settler plant as both a marker and a proxy for human settlers on the land now known as Canada. Project description.

(Click arrows below.)

  • Work in Progress. Detail wall mural. Image 1597 woodcut from Gerard’s Herbal, London
  • Detail wall mural
  • Work in progress. First recorded Dandelion herbarium samples across Canada. Montreal 1821, Whitehorse 1947, Belchers Island 2010.
  • Work in progress. Detail of installation. Every Square Inch, AB
  • Settlers in the grass plots
  • Let’s go for a walk, YK
  • Leave no trace at a territorial park, YK

Tombstone Territorial Park, visitors’ centre parking lot,

Above: Dempster Highway, Yukon, 2025: Taraxacum officinale. Below: Alberta Prairies, July 2025: A Dandelion cousin – Goat’s Beard (Tragopogon pratensis)

Acknowledgements and selected sources for this project:

  • Special thanks in chronological order:
  • Curator Krista Broecks for invaluable curatorial feedback, 2024
  • SAW workshop on non-colonial, fluid mapping in Ottawa, ON, 2024
  • Dr. Heather Kharouba, PhD, and speakers at the Crossing Boundaries Symposium, U of Ottawa, May 2025. This symposium facilitated multidisciplinary collaborations between artists, scientists, & engineers to address climate change.
  • Jennifer Doubt, Curator (Botany), National Herbarium of Canada, Canadian Museum of Nature, 2025
  • Shannon Asencio, Collections Manager, National Collection of Vascular Plants, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Images from this collection ©His Majesty The King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada, 2025
  • Kara Matthews, Horticulturalist, Coutts Centre for Western Canadian Heritage, Nanton, AB. 2025
  • Lyndsey Sharp, Assistant Collection Manager. Botany. National Herbarium of Canada, Canadian Museum of Nature, 2025
  • Staff at the Special Collections Department, Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, ON, 2026
  • Iris Sautier, Master Printer, La Bourgeoise Sérigraphe Inc, Montreal, QC., 2026
  • Selected Resources:
  • Arber, Agnes. Herbals: Their Origin and Evolution. A Chapter in the History of Botany 1470-1670. Cambridge University Press, 1912.
  • Basciano, Rebecca et. al., curators, Faith Fyles: In Full Bloom Exhibition, 2026, at the Ottawa Art Gallery. Curatorial statements on herbaria collections, Indigenous ways of knowing and botanical art.
  • Dickinson, Emily. The Letters of Emily Dickinson. C.Miller, D. Mitchell, eds. Belknap Press, 2024
  • Gerarde, John. The Herball – Or, Generall Historie of Plantes, London, 1597. Digital Copy at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON,
  • Kimmerer Wall, Robin. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, Milkweed Editions, 2013
  • Macdougall, Jane. Weeds in a Bouquet? Why Not? Globe and Mail, Aug 12, 2025
  • Sanchez, Anita. The Teeth of the Lion: The Story of the Beloved and Despised Dandelion. Perfect Paperback, 2006
  • Tomic, Milena PhD. Course materials related to the history of printmaking at OCAD U, Toronto, 2020
  • Global Biodiversity Information Facility
  • Invasive species and noxious weeds lists from non-profit organizations and Canadian provincial governments. This includes lists by Nature Conservancy of Canada, Canadian Coalition for Invasive Plant Regulation, Ontario Invasive Plants Council, provincial noxious weeds lists in BC, Alberta and Ontario. https://www.ontario.ca/page/noxious-weeds-ontario.
  • Wildflower field guides, including my go-to guide Wildflowers Northeastern/Northcentral North America by Roger Tory Peterson/Margaret McKenny
  • Trelawny, John G. Wildflowers of the Yukon & Northwestern Canada. 3rd edition. Harbour Publishing, 2009.