May 14, 2012

Mapping Kids at View Ridge

Okay, get ready for some goodness!

I have 20 maps from 19 talented and fabulous kids in 3-5 grades, from View Ridge Elementary School in Seattle. John Arbuckle is their teacher. John is a good teacher, clearly, the kind we all want for our kids. He motivated them to make maps, and then they each wrote me a note, some of them illustrated with more maps.

Turns out we are all taking a class together too, by Aimee Myers Dolich, who is teaching an online course called “Get Lost”. Aimee is one of the contributors for my book, and a friend. Her class is fun, and exploratory in so many ways. John Arbuckle is taking the class and sharing it with the kids, which of course for a map/kid lover like me is so much frosting on a very big cake.

Notice that the maps are all very personal, very different. He got those kids to use their own visual language, each one. And check out the comments on them, the details each of them included in the journey between their home and whatever the goal was: the school, a church, the bathroom, the beach. And the compass roses, ah, the compass roses!

I cannot speak enough about what this means to me, both as an author of a book about the value of making maps, and as a mother who would love to have more teachers in the classrooms of America who can garner the kind of respect and motivation that Mr. Arbuckle does for school kids.

Here we go. Enjoy each one.

Will

Vannita

Tyler

Sophie

Owen

Lincoln

Kristine

Kody

Khloe

Kayla

Hendrix

Gabe

Ethan

Eli

Dayne

Dayne/detail

Colter

Cienna

Cameron

Ava

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May 5, 2012

Abstract Maps

This month I have an article on drawing abstract maps from Google Earth Images (which is legal, as long as you give them credit, BTW). Given that I have long been smitten with the view of our planet from airplanes, helicopters, any other hover vehicle will do, this was a project I long had in mind and I got a chance to share it. The article is in Cloth, Paper, Scissors current issue.


Here are some of the maps I made.

Starting with the Google Earth image of my house, I sketched out the basic lines on a piece of pastel paper. Here is the image I started with.

Using PanPastel, I painted the shapes with the sponges and sponge wands that they sell. I added colors where I wanted (the pond that is there did not show up on Google, so I added water colors. I painted loosly, and tried not to think of architecture, but instead of shapes and their relationships.

This is one I did of Valley Ridge Art Studio, a art retreat that is celebrating its last year in business. I will teach there in August, so if you are interested in three days of immersion in letters, poetry, art making and creativity in the loveliest setting imaginable, check our Valley Ridge.

 

And here is one I did of the Masterson Ranch, which has been in our family for over a hundred years. My mother spent a whole lot of her childhood there, and so did I. I do not have access to the place anymore, it is so sad to me, but here is my tribute to the place filled with memories.

If you want to learn how I did this, please check out Cloth, Paper, Scissors May/June issue, it is available all around town and on the internet. Would love to see your work and hear what you think!

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Filed under Mapping Techniques, Projects, Surface Techniques

April 19, 2012

Get Lost

I am currently enrolled in my first online class, ever because many of my friends are the teachers. The class is called “21 Secrets” and it is exactly 21 teachers doing very cool things. The first class is with my friend Aimee, who is also a contributor for my book. Her class is called “Get Lost” and I spent the morning with some of her prompts. I am working in a small journal called a hand book, it is 5 x 5 inches on smooth text weight creamy paper. Normally I make my own journals, but this one is blue, cute, and the square attracted me.

The first prompt was about getting lost, and found, or not.

The second prompt was about a house, something that captivated you. There is this very odd house near me, on a hill, actually a bit tucked into the hill like a bunker, and we have no idea who lives there. It is a box, an ugly box with an incredible view, both of the Northern Rocky Mountains and the old, historic part of our town.

The third one I did was to design my own small city. Mine is by the sea, and has everything I think I might need.

I am trying not to censor myself here, trying to just go with the journaling idea without worrying about showing it to Mr. Joe Public, so it may get a bit casual. My goal is to do as much of this class as I can, and fill as many journals with the work from it as is possible given my life and duration of the class, which ends in December. Mad, crazy journaling with 21 of my closest friends. They aren’t all friends really, not at this point, but I hope to be all warm and fuzzy with them all at some point. I hope to come here every Thursday to show you what I am up to with this, and I would love you to comment and show me yours!

 

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April 12, 2012

Mappers in Big Numbers

I invited anyone who wanted to come to join me for making a pop-up map at the Artest Art Retreat. Who cold have imagined that first night that 85 people would show up for maps? They kept streaming in, hoards of laughing ladies, enough to make your heart sing. New ladies, Vestal Virgins, small ladies with their mothers (Maya and Orly, oh so cute) and the Profesters. Here is the good news: every one of them walked out with a properly folded map.

There is something to this mapmaking thing, I think it is catching on.

The book signing at Metsker Maps was fabulous too. Dawn Devries Sokol showed up, that was a pleasure to meet the live woman who is so creative. A boy showed up and made maps, as did families. I wish I had time to photograph all of them! Metsker Maps is a treasure trove of cartographic wonder, and I hope you will stop by if ever in Seattle.

I am done with a very long teaching stint, and will be working on new art and maps that I can actually post here. I hope we can create a community of mappers, a sharing and creative group of folks who want to contribute to a resource for all of us. This is what I have in mind, and any suggestions you all have are welcome.

Happy Mapping!

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March 18, 2012

The Ultimate Journey Map

Next week is the last Artfest, a retreat that has been going on for about 12 years in Port Townsend, Washington. I made this map to commemorate that final journey to this wonderful place. Artest is held at Fort Worden, an ex-Army base that is supposed to be full of ghosts, which a number of us will try to find while there.

This is a trade I made, so hunt me down if you want one!

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March 13, 2012

Artfest and Metsker’s

I am teaching two classes at Artfest, in Port Townsend Washington March 28-April 1. Both classes are mappish and there is room for you in both of them. Here is my post about Artfest.

Artfest ends on April 1, Sunday morning, and two friends are going to haul me to Seattle for a book signing at Metsker Maps! This is a store dedicated to maps, I have gone there my whole life, and it is intensely exciting for me to be doing this event there. We will also be making small pop-up maps, so join me for an Arty Cartophile afternoon in Seattle!

While there, check out all the map gift they have for folks like us, like this.

And this

Hope to see you there!

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March 12, 2012

Map of a Cold

Yesterday I got a card in the mail from someone I met briefly a few years ago. Her name is Jean K. Brown, and she is a mixed-media artist in Illinois. You can find her on Facebook, she is calling herself “Artism”.
Jean bought the book and then got a cold. She did exactly what I was hoping folks would do, make a map of it!!! Go Jean!

Jean sent this to me on a card. That just makes me so happy. It is almost a game, this map, a sort of Shoots and Ladders trip through a cold. There is “Toxic Territory” and “Robe Rage” (ha!), “Fever Falls” and “Cold Front”. She even made a legend. I love this.

Thanks Jean, I hope you read this and know how much I loved your mail art.

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Filed under Arty Cartophiles, Guest Mapper

March 11, 2012

The Denver Library Show, Event 1

Today my daughter Sydney and I went to the Denver Public Library to do a two hour workshop to go along with the show of the maps in my book. Almost all of the maps of mine and of the contributors from six countries are on exhibit in the Gates Room for the rest of the month. Fifth Floor, a round room. It is gorgeous.

We got in the car with plenty of time for the 15 mile journey to the library. The traffic came to a dead stop for 50 minutes, due to two traffic accidents. So, we were still sitting there when the class was supposed to start. We sang country songs that we made up, we got silly, I tried not to stress about being so late. We kept calling to check in, to assure them we were going to be there, but all along I was not so sure.

Finally we arrived. There were lots of very patient people waiting to make maps, and not one of them was grumpy about waiting! You just have to love that.

We made pop-up maps of a memory. The were all very different, all wonderful, of course. Here is our group.

Here are the mysterious mappers. Some of them did not want to be in social media. However, I made no such promise. Just have to brag about them all.

This Tuesday, March 13, there will be a tour, led by me, of all the map art in this show. Starts at 6pm. Be there!

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March 8, 2012

And the winner is….

terry lee getz
crickyn.com x
crickyn@gmail.com

Send me your addy Terry, and I will get the maps out to you!

Sorry for the delay. The truth is last week I was flattened by the flu, then had to fly to Virginia Beach on Friday through storms to teach for four days. It was wild, I barely made it there with how I already felt and then flying through storms the entire time!

I will have more givaways, so stay tuned.

One of my classes at Art & Soul in Virginia Beach was Journal Mapping. We also did some maps in the Spontaneous Deconstructed Journal Class. Here is a little show of some of the maps.

I feel so fortunate that there are lots of people out there who appreciate this passion of mine, and show up to my classes. Thanks to all of you who did!

In the next month there will be big changes here, I am consolidating my two blogs and my website, for one stop shopping and info. Stay tuned!

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February 29, 2012

Mom’s Realm Map

My friend Linda made a map that I would like to share.

I met Linda in January when I went to Tucson to teach and do a presentation on maps. She is a part of the impressive group of artist in Arizona that call themselves Paperworks. Here is the post of the books and maps they made.

Linda’s mother has Alzheimer’s Disease, which is coincidentally very common in my family. While it is devastating on every level, when we were walking in the morning before class, over the hills of the Sonoran Desert, she would tell me mom stories that really made me laugh. We talked about mapping her mom’s journey. Here is Linda’s map, and what she has to say about it.

I was inspired by the Variation: Street Map project in the book Personal Geographies.  We made the map background in class with Jill, and right from the start I wanted this to be a map representing my mother’s realm. She has Alzheimer’s disease and the names of the streets and buildings were inspired by “her world”.  I named them using her usual complaints, comments, and mysterious lost (or hidden) items.  These are things that really only my family can understand, but making the map became therapeutic for me.  Linda
It is my contention that making maps very often can serve to sort things out, to give stories and experiences a place. Making a map is an exercise in pure artistic creation: we can add anything to the place we are creating, anything at all. And when we are done, it feels good. For more map ideas to add fodder to your artist arsenal, check out my book, Personal Geographies.

I will be posting more maps from all of you as we go, so poke me if you want to share. In the meantime, today is the last day to sign up on the post below for a giveaway chance at selections of maps from my stash.

Happy Leap Day!

 

 

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