My Romance with Mapping

Okay, so I'm in the early stages of love with my new favorite inspiration: cartography.
It's become more than a casual fling: now I am buying books on the subject.

It started to get deep a few weeks ago when I was listening to This American Life on NPR. Author Denis Wood was discussing his new book (not yet released but I already pre-ordered it on Amazon) Denis Wood: Everything Sings, 2nd Revised Edition: Maps for a Narrative Atlas, in which he diagrams seemingly mundane details in his own neighborhood. The result is a fascinating, revealing, and often poetic look into demographics and geography... I was salivating by the end of the interview, and even went into work a couple of minutes late so I could hear all of it. I can't do this interview justice, so you can stream the entire episode from here.


I've always been attracted to art with obsessive tendencies.  Ritual, repetition, and collection seem to combine acts both hyper-cerebral and empty/meditative. It's a good place to be if you want to tap into deeper creativity (as an artist) or deeper connection (as a witness). 

This is not all-new territory for me; obsessive repetition was a common feature in my work over the last few years as I explored the phenomenon of deja vu, and its (personally) sinister role as a harbinger of a seizure.

But the new appeal is in adding the dimensions of space and time to create a diagram of some otherwise invisible truth. Denis Wood reminded me that anything can be mapped. The cover of his book features a geographic layout of carved pumpkin faces in his town. The areas of highly concentrated pumpkins correlated to wealthy areas, while the pumpkin-less deserts were confined to poorer areas. This raises questions. Is it merely a matter of the cost of the pumpkins being prohibitive? Or is there an element of neighborly expectations at work in the wealthier neighborhoods? One map of pumpkin placement is just one piece of a puzzle with infinite pieces; as more are collected and compared,  more questions can be raised, and more truths can be revealed.

While I certainly wouldn't mind copying Denis Wood's ideas as an exercise, I want to find my own systems for mapping. In my quest to develop my own cartography, I ordered some intriguing books which just arrived (Amazon delivery is the new Santa Claus, and today was Christmas).

First: 
Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information by Manuel Lima
It's a visually stunning collection of maps which go way beyond the traditional two-dimensional geographical versions we keep stuffed in our glove boxes (or used to, before GPS).
Some of the most compelling images are maps of information systems, internet connections, blogospheres, etc, which track the exchange of data between hosts. I just started delving into this hefty book, but I'm already struck by how the formerly mentioned maps resemble those of neural bonds, genetic connectors, weather patterns, and other "natural" phenomena.

Second:
Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline by Daniel Rosenberg and Anthony Grafton
Why? I love a good history book, especially one like this which describe methodologies as a window into interpreting other known histories. Also, I like the idea of working the dimension of time into a map.
While Manuel Lima's book is heavily focused on computer-rendered imagery, this one is full of hand-drawn timelines. Think family trees, geneologies, mythologies, prophetic predictions, and astronomical diagrams. Even tree rings of an ancient sequoia are included, with pinned markers to indicate major historical events. Lovely.

So, this was a long-ish post with no pictures. By my next post, hopefully I will have some images of preliminary experiments or at least images "borrowed" from my continued research.

In the meantime, I have been painting new ink-on-vellum pieces to hang in Cole's 735 Main in Lexington. People are actually buying them!

Gallery Visit

I recently visited the Prairie Art Gallery in Northside. This is a very community-minded, non-profit gallery. Their current exhibit, House, perfectly exemplifies the philosophy of the gallery.

Artist Tony Becker created House by collaborating with over 15 different community arts centers. Children of all backgrounds decorated paper origami houses with whatever they felt a home is; some featured cut-outs and written words, and some were decorated on the inside as well. Once Becker collected the houses, he spent many hours arranging them into large, sphere-shaped hanging mobiles, which turn slowly in the air currents.

a close-up view of Becker's largest sphere of houses

Tony Becker's exhibit manages to be engaging and compelling, without being cliched or sentimental. After talking with the gallery director, David Rosenthal, I understand why this exhibit is perfectly suited to the philosophy of the Prairie Gallery. Rosenthal chooses to exhibit work that is community-minded and unique. He prefers work that is a collaboration between artists and members of the neighborhoods in which they work, because art should function as a way to provide culture, pride, and purposeful expression.

a smaller sphere of houses

This exhibit will continue until April 8th. Go check it out!

4035 Hamilton Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio 45223

HOURS: Tuesday-Friday 10-6 and Saturday 10-4

Party at the Pendleton!

Being a waitress has its pros and cons. One of the biggest cons is that I work every Friday, and thus I never get to visit the Pendleton Art Center during Final Friday. Miracle: I got out of my shift last Friday night, called up my friend Caitlin (fellow art student) and we headed downtown to see some art!

the humble exterior

What is this Pendleton place, you ask?
It was originally built in 1909 as a shoe company. In September 1991, The Verdin Company, the world's oldest and largest bell and clock manufacturer, opened the building close to their world headquarters to promote and showcase local artisans. With eight floors of studios featuring original pine floors , eight foot arched windows and over 200 artists, PAC is the world's largest collection of artists under one roof.

The last Friday of every month, from 6 til 10, artists open their studios to the public. There all many types of artists here. Old, young, professionals, hobbyists, painters, sculptors, you get the idea. Most artists work with traditional subject matter, such as landscapes and portraits. Some artists' work is very affordable, while others sell their work for thousands of dollars.

wear comfortable shoes for lots of climbing!

Pendleton is unique because it gives the public a chance to purchase art directly from the artist, while seeing the artist in his or her own work space.

Caitlin and I took full advantage of the situation- we talked to as many artists as we could up until 9:59- and we asked how and why they worked, how they supported themselves, and what kind of advice they would offer to a young artist attempting to become professional. I can't believe I had never done that before- just TALKED to the artists- because it was easy, and they WANTED to talk! It gave me hope- this networking thing might not be so hard, after all.