“I want to live in Diane Borsato’s brain. What a joy it is to experience the fruiting bodies of her deep wide intellect in this book about mushrooms, art, forests, feminism, poison, pasta, and so much more. This is my favourite kind of fence jumping, perspective-shifting, deliciously illustrated, eloquently enquiring, radically alive book.” –Kyo Maclear

Diane Borsato’s list of awards is rivalled only by her list of degrees – BFA, MFA, MA Performance Studies. Diane has been awarded the Victor Martyn-Lynch Staunton Award from the Canada Council for the Arts and was twice nominated for the Sobey Art Award. She has exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario (and was recently Artist in Residence there), The Power Plant, the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Art Centre, and many other galleries and museums here and internationally.

In her projects she has worked closely with various other practitioners including artists, dancers, and amateur naturalists.. Your Temper, My Weather, a major durational performance involved one-hundred beekeepers, while the video Gems and Minerals saw her work with several contemporary dancers and ASL-fluent performers. Recently she co-led the OUTDOOR SCHOOL Visual Arts residency at the Banff Centre.

As Associate Professor at the University in Guelph, she teaches advanced courses in Experimental Studio – that explore the relationships between art and everyday life­ – including Food and Art, Special Topics on Walking, Live Art, and OUTDOOR SCHOOL.

Her book, Mushrooming: The Joy of the Quiet Hunt – An Illustrated Guide to the Fascinating, the Delicious, the Deadly and the Strange, is a beautifully produced volume—filled with insights, anecdotes and details about common and charismatic fungi from across the northern hemisphere. “Absolutely terrific. This is a volume that, at first glance, is a field guide. But peering closer, as every mycologist knows, brings reward. Borsato’s species descriptions are bright and lyrical… From art to culture to food, Mushrooming is a celebration of the human relationship with fungi.” –Jonathan C. Slagh

Appearing in 30. Last Chapter Brunch: Foraged Flavours