Landlocked Map

I've always started maps by making waterways of ink, but while flying out for Thanksgiving last week I tried inventing a completely land-locked city. It was inspired by an enormous and spontaneous map I did recently on a friend's wall-sized whiteboard. I started with five city centers and drew around them to create individual dense cities, then connected the cities more loosely. A lot of the drawing was done on planes, which also provided some inspiration.

(Wouldn't it be cool to do a nighttime map on black paper?)

Flying over midtown Manhattan, I was pretty touched by how much my maps owe to New York's geography. I don't usually think about it, but obviously growing up there does explain my innate conception of city aesthetics.

Green Twiggy Necklace

I have been experimenting with different colors using the twiggy design from my original plum-colored necklace. I really like the way the dark wire works with this selection of iridescent and matte green beads. I also made matching earrings, which I think came out especially well.

13 Under 30

Two of my pieces were just accepted to the "13 Under 30" show of young artists at the Rubin-Frankel Gallery at BU. The opening reception is December 2 from 6-8pm, and the show will be up until December 23rd. Please come if you're available! I will be showing the "Russet Map" from a recent post as well as one pop-up from the installation at M55's "Core and Mantle" exhibition.

New Russet Map

I just finished a new map in a russet color. I thought about making it totally autumn-colored, but I've taken a break for now. It's likely that the trees will end up coming in in the color of early fall. Right now I'm just enjoying the pattern of the houses. I used regular watercolor instead of watercolor pencils for this one, so I started with the most concentrated mix of each color at each city center and diluted it gradually as I moved outwards. I think it helps make it more organic and less strictly colored-in. The piece is 12"x9" and is probably the most densely detailed map I've made so far (with the exception of the map I drew for this year's holiday cards -- more on that later!!)

Recent Press Mentions

I just found out about two articles mentioning my work. One is an interview with the curator of the "Core & Mantle" exhibition in New York, for which I did an installation of pop-up city blocks. The article is here: http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/on-core-mantle-8232-/2146

The other is an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer reviewing the exhibition "Nowhere: Selections from the Hand Drawn Map Association", currently on view at the art gallery at Arcadia University outside Philadelphia. The article is here: http://bit.ly/az0rXH