one wish

i picked this dandelion on my second day in Calgary, when i walked to ACAD in the morning.

no particular reason, i just kept it on my desk for a while. i’ve been thinking about wind-borne seeds, and the beauty of natural aerodynamic objects. i like to look at something that is designed to move on air. i also like the way that in their movement they illustrate the unseen current, and can be sensitive to the gentlest breath.

i made this dandelion drawing in this cabinet in the hallway at ACAD. when i started, there were still students around. it was very difficult. the movement of someone walking past was enough to disrupt the seeds. the seeds were even responsive to people talking in the hallway, perhaps the compression of the air from the sound…i don’t know. anyway, i eventually ended up waiting til everyone had left, and it was fine, though i had to be very careful with my breathing.

dandelions close their petals every evening, and open again with the sun. the switch at maturity from the yellow flowers to the white puffball happens overnight, almost spontaneously – the petals close, and open the next morning as a puffball, never to close again. i learnt about the life-cycle of dandelions when i was making a gift for two friends of mine. i was out looking for dandelions – dandelion seeds actually. dandelion clocks. dandelions only germinate or flower when the soil is above a certain temperature. Canberra is cold and frosty in winter, and at that time, early spring i guess, there were scant dandelions around and yellow ones only. whenever i was on my bike i kept my eye out for dandelions, and when i spotted one, i would keep visiting it day by day to see if it had turned. that felt like a very lovely thing, returning to these various individuals growing by the side of the footpath, knowing exactly where they were. those temporary but significant markers suddenly made the whole city, my everyday surroundings, seem a little bit more invested with meaning.

in Calgary, i walked to ACAD every morning until the snow came, and started to collect many dandelion clocks everywhere i walked. as the days went by, the stems would often be frozen when i picked them. one morning, i met a guy who had a big garbage bag full of empty cans and bottles over his shoulder. he asked me what i was collecting, and then he asked me if i was crazy. i didn’t tell him what i was doing with them, but i kinda had this thought about making a quilt filled with all these dandelion seeds. i liked the Canadian word for it – ‘comforter’. i had met a young woman in Winnipeg, who grew up in this community/cult that i stayed with for a few days on my travels (a story for another time). she told me about how when she and her siblings were children, they would sew their own comforters. she told me about collecting lots of old down coats from the thrift store, cutting them open, and filling these comforters with the contents of all of these emptied out coats.

i didn’t end up making a comforter. though i had quite a collection of dandelion seeds by the end. on the night before i left Calgary, i went out on the balcony with Adrienne and Beth, who i was staying with, on the 11th floor of this apartment block downtown. it was not snowing that night. we let go of all of the seeds and watched them float over the city.

i think of them often, and i hope their wishes come true.

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