Potted plant 'performs' music at Indigenous art gallery on Vancouver Island
When Rande Cook first spotted the potted plant, he "hired" it on the spot.
“I call it my baby,” he laughs.
There was something about the snake plant that seemed to speak to him.
“I thought it would be a nice mascot in the gallery,” the artist smiles.
Like a sports team mascot, with leafy arms raised-up in a perpetual cheer, the plant seemed more than qualified to play the role of celebratory greeter at Rande's Leaf Modern art gallery.
“(Plants) bring a sense of life and joy,” he says.
And, it turns out, much more. But before Rande could know that about this plant, he had to explore what he already knew about his Indigenous culture.
“We have stories from the very beginning that there’s life in all you know,” Rande says. “Plants, animals, trees, everything.”
Rande’s been spending a lot of time experiencing the last remaining old growth forests with his wife Mona Cook, learning the science of how plants communicate from leading experts, and evolving his artwork to express that knowledge in a contemporary way.
“A lot of my work is very flowing and abstract,” Rande says. “But really it’s about that energy pulsating through nature.”
Which brings us back to the gallery mascot.
“You take these little electrodes and put them on the leaves,” Rande says as he connects the wires from the plant to what looks looks like a small wooden speaker.
Rande says the device senses the electrical variations in the plant, which are translated into music notes through this device.
The gallery is soon filled with the sounds of rhythmic, spa-like electronica.
“Our little mascot gained a voice!” Rande smiles, gently stroking a leaf, which leads to a subtle change in the music.
The plant now provides the soundtrack for the Leaf Modern (https://leafmodern.ca/).
Mona — who’s also the gallery director — says the music subtly changes throughout the day, depending on how the plant is touched, or when it's watered.
“There’s a beautiful zen that comes from listening to it,” Mona smiles, before wondering what the potential of the technology is.
“What about the plants in our garden? Our cucumbers? Do they play music?”
If one plant can transform from mascot to musician, one wonders what would happen if we took the time to listen to everything leafy in our lives. Just imagine what sort of band they could become.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
After 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed
Three months after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, many ordinary Russians are reeling from those blows to their livelihoods and emotions. Moscow's vast shopping malls have turned into eerie expanses of shuttered storefronts once occupied by Western retailers.

EXCLUSIVE | Supreme Court Justice Mahmud Jamal on his journey to Canada’s highest court
Justice Mahmud Jamal sat down with CTV National News' Omar Sachedina for an exclusive interview ahead of the one-year anniversary of his appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. Jamal is the first person of colour to sit on the highest court in the country, bringing it closer to reflecting the diversity of Canada.
Death toll from Saturday's storm hits 10 across Ontario and Quebec
As the death toll related to the powerful storm that swept Ontario and Quebec on Saturday reached 10 on Monday, some of the hardest-hit communities were still working to take stock of the damage.
'Too many children did not make it home': Anniversary of discovery at Canada's largest residential school
It's been a year since the announcement of the detection of unmarked graves at the site of what was once Canada's largest residential school – an announcement that for many Indigenous survivors was confirmation of what they already knew.
Walk out at trade meeting when Russia spoke 'not one-off,' says trade minister
The United States and four other nations that walked out of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group meeting in Bangkok over the weekend underlined their support Monday for host nation Thailand, saying their protest was aimed solely at Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.
19 charged, including 10 minors, after violent night at Toronto beach
Police say they’ve made 19 arrests and seven officers were injured after a violent night at Toronto’s Woodbine Beach that saw two people shot, one person stabbed, two others robbed at gunpoint and running street battles involving fireworks through Sunday evening.
Monkeypox fears could stigmatize LGBTQ2S+ community, expert says
A theory that the recent outbreak of monkeypox may be tied to sexual activity has put the gay community in an unfortunate position, having fought back against previous and continued stigma around HIV and AIDS, an LGBTQ2+ centre director says.
Hydro damage 'significantly worse' than the ice storm and tornadoes, Hydro Ottawa says
Hydro Ottawa says the damage from Saturday's storm is "simply beyond comprehension", and is "significantly worse" than the 1998 ice storm and the tornadoes that hit the capital three years ago.
Johnny Depp's severed finger story has flaws: surgeon
A hand surgeon testified Monday that Johnny Depp could not have lost the tip of his middle finger the way he told jurors it happened in his civil lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.