A fresh invitation


Since I haven't received any guest artist contributions in a long time I'm going to issue a new invitation to you artists out there. The panel above, now being integrated into the Map, was sent by our friend, Nancy Allen, several years ago.

Here's how it works: you contact me through this site, and I tell you where to send your 2-D, 8 by 10 inch piece. I can return the original if you want or incorporate it directly into the Map. You give me permission to copy your piece as material for collage and to sprinkle bits throughout the rest of the Map. You also understand that I will be collaging over your work to integrate it with its neighboring panels.

So, get in touch! I'll be waiting. Thanks!

Our neighbors' map installation


Our neighbors in Cold Spring, John and Jen, bought 15 Map panels from me a couple of years ago and mounted them in their dining area. To protect the prints from spatters or dust they put them behind a single large plexiglas sheet. I think they look great!

If you want to do something similar, let me know. I'll be happy to quote you a price for making custom prints like these. Or, take a look at what's being offered right now on Ebay. Some prints are as low as $4, and most are currently $10 or under.

Number hungry? Here are some garden-fresh stats!


The population of the Map as of the latest census (1053) was 16,304,885. There were 27 parishes and 416 cities.

The largest cities were:
     1. Ukrainia                  2,414,234
     2. Geo                        1,663,163
     3. Sabratha                1,033,782
     4. Wybourne                 990,212
     5. Leyemouth                800,363
     6. Southchurch             730,140
     7. Jackson                    586,034
     8. Nelleville                   585,795
     9. Fields West              454,782
    10. Plaeides                  423,152

As of the last inventory (2/17/13) the Map was composed of 2738 panels covering 1521 square feet. 1720 First Generation panels have been archived. The maximum East-West dimension is 44 feet, and the maximum North-South is 49.4 feet.

What else would you like to know?

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!

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.

An expanding Void


The Void Incursion which most recently hit the Polk neighborhood of Wybourne in Map Years 752 and 805 yesterday (Map Year 1045) consumed another large expanse of that city carrying off to another dimension an estimated 28,590 people. Taken, too, were over 20 commercial blocks and one rail station.

Since there is no defense wall in this area it is widely assumed that the entire West end of Wybourne will, one day, be lost to the Void.

Another new direction


On January 9th of this year I switched from doing collage in 2" squares to doing it in 1" squares. I thought I might get worn out doing it this way since, to cover the entire map, it would take almost 224,000 of the little guys!

But so far, so good! I love the way it looks. You can see its manifestation along the lower edge of the collage work above. What do you think?

A special offer


Everyone who buys two Map panel prints from me on ebay between now and January 31, 2013 will receive a FREE randomly chosen print! Buy four and get TWO FREE!

So, don't be shy! Start your collection today. And tell your neighbor or best friend.......

Thanks!

New directions


At the beginning of the new year I changed the system by which I move through the Map stacks. You probably know that the former system had me move top to bottom (North to South) and right to left (West to East) through the stacks according to the number turned up on my stack of cards.

To make things more interesting and random I now now move up, down, left, or right depending on the suit of the card. A nine of diamonds, for example, would have me move nine panels to the West of the previous one. If the number takes me to the edge of the Map I reverse direction and keep counting.

So far it's been fun!

Systems, systems, systems.......






As most of you know by now the creation of the Map is based on a series of systems which dictate the manner in which it is executed.

The same is true of the selling of Map panels and prints. Each time I work on a panel (as determined by the draw of the cards) I make a copy of that panel and sign and date it. I offer those prints for sale on eBay. The price is determined by the average sale price to date. I take that average and multiply it by 1.2. If the print doesn't sell at that price within 30 days I re-list it at 80% of the original price. I reduce it another 20% each month after that until it sells. In that way the market determines the price of the prints. The first offering price is currently around $15.

I am now posting the available prints from North to South. I post two new prints for every one that sells.

Take a look and start collecting now! Thanks!


My software quandary/plea!


I compose panels like the one above on my Photo Smart 3.9.0.0 software that came with an HP printer that is now long discarded. That software is the best photo manipulation system I have ever had the pleasure of using. It is simple, intuitive, and does what I want it to without confusing me or making me scream expletives. I can drag my scanned 8 by 10 inch panel images onto a custom 16-panel grid, and the software resizes them for me.

All that is well and good, but here's the problem: it's installed on my 15-year old, soon-to-retire desktop, and I don't have the installation disk. People a lot smarter than I am have tried to copy the software so that it could be installed on a newer computer, but their attempts have failed.

What can I do? Does anyone know of a program that can do what I need? Everyone suggests Adobe Elements, but I don't want to buy it without being sure that it will work. I tried to download a trial copy but got bogged down in the process. Help!  I am very open to suggestions!

And thanks for listening to my rant!

The next step....


And now the show is over. The Map sits in a dozen boxes in my garage waiting for the ride to Michigan. With any luck it will be unpacked and re-installed on shelves in my back bedroom studio at the farm by November 10 or 11. And I will be back at work on it! I can't wait!

The MASS MoCA show was a huge success- at least from my vantage point. The staff, headed by Joe Thompson, Sue Killam, and Eric Enderle, was extremely supportive. They seem to answer all questions with a "Yes!" They undertake any project with the attitude that anything is possible. And then they manage to pull it off! I owe them a huge debt of gratitude!

PS...big thanks to Steve Taylor who rode the scary Genie lift to get this spectacular picture. Greg Whitmore's updated video will be coming along soon!

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.