Tuesday, February 26, 2013

A new show!


I have just been invited to show a large section of the Map at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in Brattleboro, Vermont from November 1, 2013 to March 4, 2014! I hope that some of you will be able to come. So, mark your calendars!

I expect to show about 800 of the central panels (including the one above) in a gallery space that will accommodate the entire width of the Map wrapped around four walls. This will be the first time that a section has enveloped a whole room. I think that the installation will be very effective.

If any of you know of other venues for shows please let me know. I'd love to be able to exhibit out West in this 50th anniversary year of the start of the Map. Thanks!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

A note on Map dating


Some of you have noticed that those tiny numbers on the Map panels do not represent altitudes but rather indicate the date when that part of the panel was painted or collaged. Those Map dates correspond to "our" years, and I keep a list of equivalent dates. Currently there are about 85 Map years to each of our calendar years.

In the early years of my Map-making the years were determined by the rate of increase in the Map population. A one percent increase in population was equal to one Map year. You may see some tiny hand-written dates on the early panels.

In recent times that system became too tedious to maintain. Also, because I can now print sheets of clear labels with computer generated numbers the number of date labels per Map year has become arbitrary. We are currently in Map year 1050.