From Carnbeg to California, and back through a flower.
Thomas Coulter (1793–1843) was born at Carnbeg near Dundalk. Trained in medicine, he travelled to Mexico to work for a mining company and collected plants and animals, later exploring California. Back in Ireland, his collections helped establish Trinity College Dublin’s herbarium.
The matilija poppy, Romneya coulteri, carries the names of Coulter and his friend Thomas Romney Robinson. The Dictionary of Irish Biography records its first flowering in Ireland at Glasnevin around 1870. Ciclope’s poppies and Tellas’ earlier botanical mural connect a global collecting story with the town where it began.
The full story of Thomas Coulter Learn moreLearn more about the subject 1
- Thomas Coulter: life and botanical legacy Royal Irish Academy · Dictionary of Irish Biography
Historical context and editorial interpretation are distinguished above. Sources researched October 2026.
This artwork is preserved in photographs. It is part of the festival’s history and is no longer available as a walking-trail stop.
The story across the years.
Other artists’ interpretations of this subject in the festival collection.
2022The Coulter PoppiesCiclope · On the streetsThe story behind the wall.
Thomas Coulter (1793–1843) was an Irish physician, botanist and explorer. His passion for knowledge and discovery is thought to have been inspired by this father Samuel Coulter who had a remarkable collection of books on exploration, agriculture and bee-keeping, history, religion, and the Irish language.
Thomas was born at Carnbeg Farm on the outskirts of Dundalk, he attended the Classical and Mercantile Academy, a large boarding and day school located on Clanbrassil Street at that time. He went on to study and become a fellow at Trinity College Dublin and became an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy, which is still Ireland's leading body of experts in the sciences and humanities to this day.
After completing his medical degree in Dublin, Coulter studied botany in Geneva for seventeen months under Swiss taxonomist Augustin de Candolle. He then moved from Switzerland and became a physician with the Real del Monte Company in Mexico, during this period he collected and catalogued plants in the region.
He eventually left Mexico and travelled the world exploring many countries and conducting botanical research culminating in Arizona and Alta California in the early 19th century. He subsequently returned to Ireland in 1834 and became the founding curator of the herbarium at Trinity College, Dublin. Though he was a physician by profession, Coulter achieved success in different fields and is best remembered as a great explorer and a pioneer in botany.
Meet TELLAS.
View artist profile & all their workHis unique style is known all over the world and now he has left his distinctive markright here on Francis street in Dundalk Town. Born in 1985 in Cagliari, Sardinia, his artistic journey begins in the harsh lands where he grew up. His work is a personal and intimate vision of the natural elements defining the landscape around him. Each piece is the result of a meditative process combining spatial qualities, shapes and species of the surrounding environment.
He expresses his style through various means. His use of drawing, painting, printing techniques, installations and audio-video production confirms his aim to create and experiment with different art forms.
