Melissa Cole

Melissa Cole holds an MA in Art History in London, England, where she also worked at the National Portrait Gallery. Currently based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Her career has included roles as an arts administrator, consultant and gallerist at numerous non-profit galleries and arts organizations. Melissa currently works in the commercial art sector at Loch Gallery Calgary.

My attraction to botanical illustration stems from an interest in southern Alberta’s native plants and ecology. My creative process forges a deep connection with my botanical subjects, and has underscored the complexity of the natural world, and just how vulnerable and precious natural ecosystems are. While my work adheres to the scientific tenets required for botanical illustration, my background is firmly planted in the world of fine art. It is natural then, that my priority is to produce pieces of art, while keenly observing plants and their place in the natural world. By using vivid colours, and dramatic lights and shadows I strive to imbue my paintings with depth and three dimensionality, thus breathing life into each plant on the paper.

Title of the Project:

Noxious Weeds of Alberta, Canada

About the Project:

This series portrays five plants that are reviled weeds across much of North America, and classified as “noxious” by the Government of Alberta’s Alberta Weed Control Act. More specifically, each plant was selected for their ethnobotanical “biographies”.

As we know, plants spread their seed through various means—wind, water and soil, on the fur of animals or in the bellies of birds. However, with the huge increase in migration and movement of people over the past several hundred years, plants now have the ability to spread faster and farther afield. Even today, we continue to make changes upon the land without always considering the impact one small act (or one small seed) can make to the inhabitants—plant and animal—of a place.

For many “weeds”, it is most often their value and virtue that begins the tale of their degeneration from harmless and helpful plants to invasive that must be eradicated. This series aims to highlight how human activity has inadvertently facilitated the proliferation of these once beneficial plants into invasive species that threaten native ecosystems. It is a reminder that humans are the original invasive species, yet, with informed action—through education and awareness—we can mitigate the ecological impact that these noxious weeds have on our native ecosystems. 

Illustrations: