Topographic Table

My studio is... well... it's practical. It's not lovely, airy, sun-soaked, or spartan like all good studios are supposed to be, but it gets the job done. My studio is the messy pony tail of the workspace universe -- It ain't pretty, but it helps me get my work done.

I work in the basement of our home. Sure, I have to supplement the lighting with lamps. And sure, I have workout equipment, an old t.v., dusty VHS tapes, and a stray sock from the laundry chute as my twisted feng-shui backdrop. Who cares? 75% of the year it's the perfect temp -- if on the cool side, I can crank the stereo without waking the kids, I can write off the "overhead" as a business expense, and most importantly, it's big enough that I can fit all my stuff here and I don't have to share with anyone.

So, it was a little fun when I actually made some changes to it recently. I occasionally take EVERYTHING off the 8-foot table and give the surface a good scrub. After staring at the wet marks evaporate from the faux-woodgrain tabletop, I was inspired to paint it white. I found some old white paint the former owners had left and laid on two, gooey coats of it in one day. From its age, my misuse, or something, the paint did not spread very nicely. Some parts were wonderfully white, while other parts hinted at a darker layer beneath. I'm an impatient re-decorator, so instead of applying yet another layer of paint on, I uncapped my Sharpie and went to town. Drawing (literally) from all my experience with contour maps over the last 4 years, I topo-fied my tabletop.


It still isn't spectacular, but it's brighter, more creative, much less faux-woodgrain, and totally Crafterall. After editing the "stuff" I need on the table and replacing the bare essentials, I can honestly say that it was worth it. Something about it says, "Yup. This is for real, y' know. This is your job. Now go, kick some butt."


I am o.k. (for now) with the fact that my studio will never look like Martha's or any of the dreamy spaces I've seen featured online. I do want to work a little more, though, on paring down even further, finding more out-of-the-way places for my less-frequently used tools and materials, and getting the whole place to jive a little more. If I'm going to spend 60 hours a week down here, I better darn well enjoy it! Maybe I'll get around to a complete "before and after" post when that "after" feels complete... say, in a couple years or so. *wink*

Locally Harvested

Yesterday, I dropped off some work to be included in my first, official, fine art show. I've been slow to adopt the title "Artist" and have come a long way from making greeting cards to what I do now. This show marks my foray into gallery shows, and I'm pretty excited about it.

The Show: Locally Harvested "small art - big beauty". Held within the Capstone Gallery at 4325 Nicollet Ave S. in Minneapolis, November 12 - December 28. Opening Party will be November 19, from 6 - 9 p.m.

The Works:

"Reincarnations No.1" & "Reincarnations No.2"


These pieces represent an idea I've had rumbling around in my head and in my sketchbook for at least a year. I wanted to play with the silhouette trend that's been hot lately, and yet do something new and maybe meaningful with it. For this work, I've tried to capture the sense that we go through a series of different selves as we age, and that somewhere inside us, there are traces of ourselves as younger and younger "reincarnations."

These are some of the first pieces I've designed digitally for the Silhouette cutter. The newer software application is so much easier to use and has opened up a new world of cutting possibilities for me. So far, I'm quite pleased with the results.


"Flow"

This is another idea I've had for a long time: to create a topography-type piece in sections for a puzzle-like look. The result turned out better than I expected. I am digging the "friction" caused by seeing the flow of the water subject interrupted by the separation. Perhaps it's a comment about how we've disrupted the land around us. Or perhaps it's just neat.


"Elevated"

This piece is similar to "Flow" in that the subject has been sliced apart, but here, I've mounted them on a single piece of cardstock, and then elevated two of the pieces for more depth. I'm playing with the idea of topography, the height of the land, and the disruption of the status quo.


"Harvest"

Cut from 14 layers of brown and cream cardstock, this work has both the mountain and the quarry from which it was "mined" as equal halves of the same material.


"Clary Lake"

My last piece is an homage to Mr. Charles Clary, a contemporary paper artist to whom I've been nicely compared by some. I tried to mimic Clary's technique of layering with space in between the layers, while still maintaining my flair for topography, land and water.


This was my first experiment with this and I have to admit that my respect for the precision and complexity of Clary's work rose immensely throughout this process.


While working on these delayed my production of some custom requests and general shop stocking, the show is exactly the motivation I needed to work out some of these ideas, and feel a little more worthy of the title, "artist."

I'd love to hear what you think of these. And I'd really love to see you at the show!

Ninety-nine... One hundred!

The very first piece, back when it was "NEW"
In November of 2008, I sold my first 8 x 10" Topography in Aqua piece. I was bolstered to create the larger, frame-able sized pieces based on the small and growing success of my new topography cards, and was just as surprised as anyone when these did well too.

Number 100 (detail)

Just under two years later, I've cut my 100th version of these. There have been other aqua topographies in different sizes, and differently colored pieces as well. Each of these are numbered in their own sets. Looking at the older photos, it's fun to see the evolution of my work. The cardstock is different, my cutting is a bit more complex, and the descriptions are a bit more fleshed out, but the basic concept is still pretty much the same.

Number 100
Thank you, dear readers and fans of the shop. Your encouragement and support has truly helped me reach this milestone. I can only image what all 100 of those pieces would look like stacked one atop another, or in a gallery, framed and hung in a line on a long, long wall. How cool would that be?! Here's to the next 100!

Alaska, Forida, New York, Oh My!

More custom requests have been filing in, with miraculously workable timing. Do you all get together behind my back and sort yourselves out, or am I just this lucky to maintain a lovely, nearly constant stream of requests? Either way, I'll take it!

Here's a look at what I've been up to lately.

Auke Bay, near Juneau, Alaska


Auke Bay (detail)
This piece shows one of the few times that I used the darkest color for the land as the base layer, instead of working the four shades the other way. I think the effect works really well since the land closest to the ocean here is rich with giant evergreens, and just up the steep sides of these mountains are glaciers and snow caps. I also really like the greater contrast between the light blue of the water and the dark green of the land. Might have to try this with my next few Islands pieces.

Next up, warm and sunny, Sanibel Island in southwest Florida:

Sanibel Island


Sanibel Island (detail)
Because the topography is very subtle here and much of the island is marshy wetland, the buyer and I agreed that just two layers of green would suffice to represent the land in this area. I chose the middle of the Grass Green set for a nice, true-green tone with good contrast to those gulf coast waters. With all the little islands and lakes, I don't think we missed the other two layers.

Back up north, this time on the eastern side of the country, I had another request for the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. This time, I was asked to recreate the land's topography as well as the lake depths. It was fairly crucial to be as accurate as I could be as the buyer and her friend participated in a thigh-busting, 300-mile bike ride up and down this terrain, and these pieces were to be souvenirs of that event. It took a few tries, and quite a bit of back-and-forth communication, but I think we did O.K. in the end, and I'm very grateful for the patience and flexibility of this buyer. These pieces aren't the winners, but they'll give you a good idea of the project and all those lovely hills.

Finger Lakes

Finger Lakes (detail)

Staying in New York, but moving to the big city, I recreated a section of Manhattan's Upper West Side, along the Hudson River, and across from the Fairview area.

Upper West Side

Upper West Side (detail)It's a wonderfully simple piece with quiet sophistication, done up in creamy browns. I like how the river, at a distance, could almost be mistaken for a piece of bark, then the fabricated piers on the west bank reveal that it is something else entirely, and perhaps, to a keen observer, give away its true location identity.

What fun stuff you guys throw at me, and what a great way to "travel" the world. Thank you!

Eight Hundred Cards

What does 800 cards from Crafterall look like?

Something like this:

Sorted, counted, ready to package:


Making the cards is the biggest part, but by no means the only part of filling such a large order. There's packaging the individual cards and/or sets with envelopes and inserts, completing and printing necessary packing and billing paperwork, packing the entire order to be shipped, and obtaining postage for the whole deal.


I really like this part. It's relatively mindless and it lets me do something I love: play with packaging!


This is starting to feel kinda "big time." I'm exhausted, proud, and thrilled all at once. Phew!

*edited to add: Did you know that there is a wiki page for the number "800"? At first, I thought it was a bit ridiculous as I read, "800 (eight hundred) is the natural number following 799 and preceding 801." Um... duh. We need a wiki for this? Then, I read this: "It is the sum of four consecutive primes (193 + 197 + 199 + 211), " and proceeded to geek out. This is actually pretty darn cool. See here for more on 800 or choose your own number.*

Welcome to dee islands, mon!

I finally got around to creating more fictional island pieces for the shop, after making (and selling) the first two back when there was still snow on the ground. As ever, I continue to be inspired by cutting actual locations for custom requests, and it's so fun to be able to do "whatever" with these imagined places. Each piece is, at its most diverse points, eight layers thick, and the pieces are available in three different sizes:

8 x 10"

No. 5
No. 5 (detail)

No. 6

No. 6 (detail)

No. 7

No. 7 (detail)

10 x 12"

No. 3

No. 3 (detail)

No. 8
No. 8 (detail)

and 12 x 12" (The Big Kahuna!)

No. 4

No. 4 (detail)

I'm pondering new colorways too. Tan to brown land surrendering its ore to rusty orange waters? Monochromatic whites, greys, into black? All white? What do you think?

Until I work up the budget to spend time on a real tropical island, I will be happy to pretend, as my blade cuts land and volcanic peaks from cerulean waters, that I am there, sipping something chilled and mildly intoxicating, swinging lazily in a canvas hammock, the lullaby of waves hush-hushing me to sleep.

Thanks for having a look.

Working the Land

uffta (OOF-tah): interjection: Exclamation of Norwegian origin, popular in strongly Scandinavian settlements in the upper Midwest, used to express surprise, bewilderment, astonishment, pity, pain, and fatigue. Syn. yikes, oh boy, whoa nelly, hoo-wee, good gravy.

I'm happy to report that the custom requests continue to pour into my shop at a nicely steady pace. While many of them remain in the style of my original lake-style bathymetries, the most recent requests have begun to grow legs and climb onto land for a look at the good life. Starting from the simplest, though not necessarily easiest, to the most complex, here's a look at what me and my trusty lil' blade have been up to lately.

The first piece is basically a reverse of my typical pieces. Instead of the land being a single, solid white layer with the water represented in layers of deepening color, the water here is a base layer of white, and the land is layered on top in the shades from light to dark. Abstract veining, or a chunk of Mobjack Bay, near Gloucester, Virgina?


Going with more land-like coloration, another patron requested a 12-layer representation of Little Switzerland, North Carolina. If you notice, there's a handful of little lakes scattered throughout this area as well.


Incorporating the water into the land-based topographies took off from there. Starting small, here is the stunning Plage du Pyla on the southwestern coast of France.


From here, it was an all-out war against my brains and hands to work both the land's topography and the water's depth into a single piece. Here is an artistically isolated Marrowstone Island, from the great state of Washington.

(detail)
(entire piece)
And it didn't get any easier from there. A request for the Rhode Island coastline near Westerly:

(detail)
(entire piece)
And then onto the largest lake in New Hampshire: Lake Winnipesaukee. I counted at least 53 islands here, not including the little hills of land that were islands of another sort.

(detail)

(entire piece)
Finally, the biggest, most time-taxing, brain-busting piece to date was actually a set of pieces. Two pairs of pieces of two different areas of Quebec -- Rouyn-Noranda and Montreal.

(detail)

(both sets)
(detail)
To answer a question that I'm sure many of you have in mind at this point, YES, these take a good, many hours to complete, and cutting the pieces is only a small portion of the process. For many of these, especially those attempting to capture a big area in a much smaller space, it's difficult to find easy-to-read topographic maps that generalize the land's topography enough to be of use. Most of the time, I need to zoom in to see the lines, choose which ones to follow, and then zoom out to work the lines into the piece itself. I feel like I add more wrinkles in my brain by doing this. It is mentally exhausting, and it is totally worth it. The results look way cool to me, and I'm excited to tackle some more. Not all areas seem to translate as well as others, but they all have an artful final look, and, best of all, the recipients get to own an original art map of the place they love.

You can say it with me: Uffta!

Collecting Topography & its Kin

As an artist who's been chest deep in topographies for about two years now, I keep an eye open for other forms of artful topography or topography-like art. I've started a collection and I'm happy to share some of what I've found so far. Today's selections showcase the variety of substances in which artists have worked in some very tasty topographies, intentionally or implied.Paper and wood are children of the same source, more or less, as plant pulp, and so it's equally gratifying for me to find awesome pieces made of either material. Starting close to home, the very talented Charles Clary crafted this beauty and others like it using the same paper I use:

Microbial Triple Diddle InfestationA closer look reveals these achingly awesome details, curves, lines, and depth. LOVE this stuff.
Microbial Triple Diddle Infestation (detail)I've come across these lovely wooden pieces at a nearby mall kiosk and had to stop, ogle, and smile. I'm fairly certain that the brains and skill behind Lakes of Wood and I could have a nice chat with one another about technique and trials.

A while back, a visitor to my shop referred me to this impressive gallery of work done by Chris Yates. My head spins just looking at all those layers!

Eagle-Vail, Colorado
And then there is the medium of fabric. I toyed a bit with this already, having made topography pillows a while ago, but I'm just not good enough yet to make it economical. Instead, I'll drool over these yummies.

Purl (detail) by Amy Honchell
Project Runway alum , Etsy shop owner, and fabric layering guru, Leanne Marshall designed a lovely collection of topography inspired dresses. If I get mega rich and famous for my art, I'm calling Leanne for my red carpet dress.


Perhaps my most favorite find is this A.MA.ZING concrete sink, created by the fine people of Gore Design Co. Their "erosion" sink is clever as all get out concept, and brilliant design. For the record, I have never so nearly swooned for a sink as I have for this. In the rich and famous daydream I mentioned above, I'm walking down that red carpet wielding this sink under one arm. It's that cool.

And while I'm swooning and daydreaming, I'll wrap myself in one of Leah Evan's impossibly gorgeous quilts, like this one:

Shoreline

or this one: Dark Estuary
Eee Gads, they're amazing. I think I would cry if I ever saw one in person. Or laugh joyfully. Or both, like the now infamous Double Rainbow Guy.

I'm fairly certain that I'll compile another list of kick-ass topographic and map-inspired work again, but for now I'll close with a fun flickr find. I hope you enjoyed this little tour as much as I have.

The deranged topography of ice