Spring 2026 Newsletter
“Astonishingly true to life.” These words describe the artistry of Agriculture and Agri-food
Canada’s current scientific illustrator Jessica Hsiung and the department’s very first botanical artist Faith Fyles, who was working 100 years ago at the Farm.
Our Spring newsletter features articles about each of them. We learn from Joan Butcher about Hsiung’s fascination with scientific illustration (her painting of a Pandora Sphinx Moth is shown here), and Fyles is the subject of an exhibition on now at the Ottawa Art
Gallery. Co-curator of the exhibition, William Knight of Ingenium, introduces us to the research that led to the show.
The difficulty that women such as Fyles had in navigating the bureaucracy in the early days of the Farm is explored by Blaine Marchand in an article in the newsletter entitled “Women’s Work.”
The UN has proclaimed 2026 as the International Year of Volunteers. Christina Fiedorowicz honours the commitment and dedication of those with the Friends of the Farm and connects them with the millions of volunteers worldwide.
Also in the newsletter, Elizabeth Atkinson updates us on the immensely popular Celebritree Program, and Bill Joyce explains why we have a Bloom Time Project that tracks the blooming of plants. “In the meantime,” as President Dianne Caldbick writes, “we look forward to getting back into the Farm’s gardens and Arboretum to embrace the joys of the planting season.”
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