The Map

In the summer of 1963 I began drawing a map of an imaginary city. The work started as a doodle done in the spare time I had while working at a tedious job. I continued to add to that map through the years until, in 1983, I set it aside to put my free time to other use.

The Map was stored in the attic of our home in Cold Spring, New York. It gathered dust. My son, Henry, found it one day while rummaging around. He brought it down to me and asked what it was. Seeing it then triggered me to dust it off and continue the project.

It now comprises over 3600 individual eight by ten inch panels. Its execution, in acrylic, marker, colored pencil, ink, collage, and inkjet print on heavy paper,  is dictated by the interplay between an elaborate set of rules and randomly generated instructions.

Jerry

Jerry Gretzinger, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1942, studied architecture and liberal arts at the Universities of Michigan and California. He joined the Peace Corps in 1966 and spent 2 years in Tunisia, later returning in 1968 as an architect with an archeological team cataloging the Roman mosaics there. He came back to the United States in 1973 and started a handbag design company in New York. In the early 1980s Jerry was joined by his wife Meg Staley in the design and manufacture of women's clothing. He retired to Maple City, Michigan in 2004.