The show is on!


The show at MASS MoCA opened officially last Saturday and runs through this coming Sunday, October 14. The Map is finally laid out entirely for the first time since 1985 when it was a fifth its current size. I hope that some of you following this blog will be able to come! Be sure to come say hello to me as I continue the work on this project. For directions go to massmoca.org.

I wasn't prepared  myself for the magnitude of my Map. I had feared before arriving here that it would be dwarfed by the enormity of the black-box theater where we mounted it. But the Map more than holds its own. What a perfect setting!

In the photo I am standing with my oldest son, Aaron, right on top of Wybourne's Southwest suburbs.

Oh well!

Grandaddy


Here it is! The original Map panel in all its faded, rumpled, tattered glory. It was mounted maybe forty years ago on recycled cardboard and then polyurethaned. The Prestype "Wybourne" is still intact.

The original four blocks are there, almost at the center, almost square. That was my starting point for creating a city which was, for me, a conflation of what I imagined London to be and what I had experienced in Washington. There are representations of Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, as well as The U.S. Capitol and The White House. A couple of railway stations were thrown in, too, because part of the romance of London was, for me, the notion that it had several train stations with exotic names.

And the winner is......





....the ten of diamonds! That's the first card drawn this morning. So, I've moved down ten panels in the current stack ( N20 and higher) arriving at N23/W10. Now I will copy that panel and start work on it. In my next post I will show you the Before and After pics of the current work.

The instruction on this card is a housekeeping one: to create a new 1/32 (or larger scale) composed panel. I'll show you that, too.

Another sales pitch


Here  are few reasons to go to eBay right now and buy yourself a piece of Jerry's Map:

1. The Ukrainia panel pictured above is now being offered at the buy-it-now price of $13.96. The last Ukrainia panel went, at auction, for $51! So, this one is a steal.

2. If you've already bought one or more panels you can check to see if any contiguous ones are available. By buying them or those you can begin to construct your own copy of Jerry's Map.

3. Maybe you just like the graphics and would like to have a piece on your wall. You can go to any craft store and get a mat and frame (11 by 14") for under $15. For 25 or so it can be on your wall in just a few days.

4. Or maybe you just think the whole project is cool and want to show your support by contributing. It's almost like Kickstarter but without Kickstarter. Every couple of prints sold buys me a new ink cartridge. And every sale gives me the ego food it takes to keep slugging away at this endless endeavor.

5. It might be a viable investment. Who knows? The print you buy today may be worth more in the future.

More about those cards.....

 off my





I just took the top nine cards off my "Future Predictor" deck and scanned them so I could give you a better idea of what they tell me. Starting from the upper left they are:

6 Hearts: I move down six panels in my current stack, pull that sheet, make two color copies, and archive the original. One copy gets signed and offered for sale on eBay. The other copy becomes the next generation of that panel and gets revised according to basic rules which I will not go into here. Each panel has a set of cross-hairs from which all execution and revision emanates. Blank areas get painted, and already painted areas get a layer of collage. When the sheet is entirely collaged the bud of a new town appears at the cross-hairs.

Q Hearts: Move 12 panels and proceed as above. When the card is red the painting or collageing is done counter-clockwise. Black cards indicate a clockwise direction. The card also has the command "1/16" telling me to make a new 1/16 scale composed sheet  (256 panels on one 8 by 10 inch page).

5 Hearts: The command is to scan. I am continually in the process of scanning the 2600 plus panels in order to make 1/4 and 1/16 composition sheets and to give me a sense of where I am in the project.

Black King: tells me to build a new defense wall. So, that sheet will have the bud of a new Void Defense.

9 Diamonds: another "scan" command. There are several in the deck.

8 Diamonds: reads "New island if all water OR new Void Defense Wall." This gives me an alternative. Sometimes I draw a card which doesn't make sense given the panel on which I am working. I am obliged to execute the command as well as I can but also then have given myself permission to change the command on the card for the next time it comes up. I keep a list of such new commands and take the next one on the list.

7 Diamonds: "Count sheets." This is another never-ending process. Every time I archive a sheet or create a new panel I try to remember to change the count on the header sheet for that pile. Sometimes I forget. So, I have found it necessary to count manually the piles. This command obliges me to count at least one pile.

Joker: Move 15 panels, work clockwise, copy a city "master" onto label paper. Most of the collage work is done by cutting out label paper. There are stacks of various colored collage materials and folders of roads and cities. There are masters of each type, and, in this case, I will copy the top master in its stack and then return it to the bottom.

7 Diamonds: "Copy this sheet for collage." The seventh panel down the stack will be copied onto label paper for collage use. This is an example of the Map regenerating itself.

Everyone thoroughly confused? I'd be happy to answer specific questions.


Slow Map


When Jerry's Map was started in August, 1963 in that production control room of the Hoover Ball Bearing factory on South State Road in Ann Arbor there were no personal computers, no color copy machines, no video games, no emails, no Walkmen, no satellite TVs, no fax machines even.

The earliest panels of the Map were executed in ballpoint pen on what was referred to as "typing paper." Since there was no word processing, term papers had to be hand-typed on one of those antique machines called "typewriters". The stats for the Map- populations, "station districts", college football scores were typed onto half-page size binder paper. Letters I wrote to friends back in Ann Arbor after I transferred to Berkeley in September, 1963 were typed, and I made a carbon copy to keep for myself.

All that now seems like the Middle Ages. I use the computer to scan images, compose smaller-scale sheets, to make labels, and to keep stats. I use the color inkjet constantly to make copies of panels so that I can revise them without losing their history. I email images. I sell prints on eBay.

But I won't resort to generating the actual Map iconography by computer. I often think what I might have created on SimCity if I had spent 49 years doing it. The satisfaction, for me, of making this Map is to see the interaction of my rules and my hand. They are, in a way, a simple, slow computer. The images emerge at a snail's pace. Panels often take years to complete.

Sometimes I feel that we move too fast in these times. We miss many details when we do. We see more of what's real from the seat of a bicycle than one of an A320. (I do love the window seats, though, I have to admit. That must be obvious from my work).

There has been a lot of talk about turning my Map into a video game. I will only want to do that when it's possible to recreate the hand-drawn quality. Will that be in my lifetime?

Jerry's Map meets the chicken coop


My friends, Cary and Bill, who made a generous contribution to the cartridge fund coffers, are getting, in return, a series of three of these 28 by 35 inch vinyl prints. I've had three different sets printed, and, so that they could decide between the sets, mounted them on the side of the chicken coop this morning. Don't they look great?

I don't know yet which set they will choose, but the remaining six prints will be available at $220 apiece (or three for $600). If you have a blank coop or garage or fence that deserves some Map prints, let me know! I can email you photos of what's up for grabs. And.....they are UV coated and guaranteed!

About those prints on eBay......

There has been a rash of print purchases on eBay including a record $51 paid at auction by one intrepid bidder for the important Ukrainia panel shown above. Thanks!

While the sale of prints barely covers my ink costs I do appreciate them as an indication of your support for this project. Please keep it up! And remember: when you buy a print your surname goes on the list of potential names for Map features! A mountain! A lake! A whole parish!

For the record, original Map panels are also available at $320 for first generation and $80 for subsequent iterations. Signed four by five-foot billboard vinyl blow-ups can also be had at $600. If you are interested please let me know.

Note from a man on a farm....

I am at the farm. Last night's thunderstorm has passed, and the grey skies are starting to lift.

I got up this morning around six, made a cup of green tea, sweetened it with some old cherry/tomato jam that no one else in the house will eat, went upstairs to my computer to check the blog. 123 followers where there had been 82 a few days ago. What's going on?

Followed a source back to reddit and read the conversation there til I was in tears. They (you) all get it! I read on, clinging to what, by then, were only shreds of humility. And then I realized that the Map is much bigger than me and that you all are a part of it, too. Thank you all for being human and smart and loving and inquisitive. Gods one and all.

I will start to answer your questions, but the task is daunting! Please be patient!

It's Semi-Official!



Sue Killam and Eric Enderle from the Hunter Center for Performing Arts at MASSMoCA in North Adams came here for a studio visit on May 1, and we talked about details for the show there this fall. They took videos of my space so that it could be re-created on the stage up there, and we talked logistics with Greg Whitmore, the videographer who will be shooting more footage during the installation and show. This is getting to be very exciting!

The concept is that the installation will be about half complete when the show opens on October 5 and will continue until Saturday afternoon, the 6th. Visitors will be able to watch the process. I will be there helping and, when the installation is done, will be working in my on-stage studio and answering questions. The show will close on Sunday the 14th or the following day. We'll be more specific soon.

I can't wait!

Void Incursion in Penfold!


A new incursion of The Void has occurred in  Penfold, a thriving city of some 103,000 people in the parish of The Plains. The incident happened in the center of the city taking with it an estimated 7,400 residents and the second of the city's two railway stations. Leadership of the town has petitioned the Central Government to provide Void Defense walls to protect the remaining Penfoldians. In the meantime a new residential area, New Penfold, has been erected northeast of the existing city and will house people displaced from the central district.

The not-so-blank blank



This is the new, farm-made blank I referred to in my last posting. It and others like it will begin to appear around the perimeter of The Map as soon as I get back to my Cold Spring studio.

This "blank" is made of Map misprints and remnants which have been collaged with wallpaper paste onto heavy card stock. I like the quality of these sheets- a little rumpley and sturdy. They definitely have a handmade quality to them which I respond to.

I'll soon move onto the next generation of "blanks": ones in which more beautiful, recycled paperboard shows through.

The tee!

Here it is! The official Jerry's Map tee shirt! You can get one now on eBay for a paltry $29! Go do it!

I am out at the farm in Michigan til about April 9. I am only doing peripheral Map work, namely making "blanks", the new sheets that get added to my Map. The current generation is solid collage of various Map and Map-related images. I'll show you one next time I blog.

A milestone.

What you see above is the 2500th panel of Jerry's Map (N6/E28). For weeks now I have been saying that The Map comprised a little over 2500 sheets. Then, the other day, Roberto did an updated inventory, and it was revealed that there were only 2497! I was disappointed, but since then I have added three more panels bringing the total, as of this morning, to 2500.

As you can see the virgin (or blank) panels have taken on a new look. They are, for the most part, paperboard box backs collaged together with bits of old Map prints.

The inventory also showed that, of the 2497 in-progress panels, 1539 are Generation II or higher. There are currently 2 Generation VIII panels in the mix. The total of all generations (not counting approximately 50 original panels which have been sold) was 5460.

The Map, at 2500 panels, now covers just under 1389 square feet. That's about 30% of a basketball court or 23.5% of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. I have a long way to go!

Save the date!

The tentative date for the opening of the display of the entire Map is Friday, October 5, 2012. Circle that day on your calendars. It's the start of the Columbus Day weekend. So, you'll all have ample time to get there. I hope to see lots of you and have a chance to put faces and voices to you folks who have supported me here. I'll give you the exact location as soon as the ink is dry. In the meantime, think Berkshires....hint, hint!

The Red Dimension has made its first appearance....

N15/E20 played host yesterday to the first manifestation of the Red Dimension. I had added a "New Red Dimension" card to the deck a couple of weeks ago, and it came up yesterday morning. Here's what we know: RD is in shades of red, and its tendrils seem to be able to cross any lower 2-D features. What we don't know (yet) is what its role will be when it encounters The Void. My hunch is that it will be able to cross Voids in that The Void occupies the same plane as The Map itself. This new feature appears to be in another plane altogether. Any notions from you out there?