Jocelyn Curry

Art & Joie de Vivre

Part Two–A Fine Collection of Maps: Workshop Review of The Artful Map 2014

November 23, 2025

Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).

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The scenic Diablo Lake peninsula trail (part of the Environmental Learning Center campus) is lined with magical wildflowers at this time of year. Here is a spread of dainty twinflowers thriving in the shade.

 

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Billowing clouds and meandering waterways characterize class assistant Sarah's map.

Part II

Conventional maps can do no more than point the way to unpredictable, individual experience, while artworks embody those experiences. Katharine Harmon

Here you will see more expressive, personal maps from The Artful Map, A One-page Nature Journal held at the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center June 20-22, 2014. Not all maps could be included, for which I apologize. Please excuse the gaps, as I try to make the blogging software do things it doesn't like to do!

To see larger versions of these photos, please click on each image.

 

 

 

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Geological layers and dinosaurs are featured in Dave Braun's map.

 

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He used letter forms derived from historic maps to further ornament and embellish a map that looks fictional but is indeed factual. Dave left his map uncolored so that it could be reproduced in black and white and offered as a page to be colored by visiting youth.

 

 

 

 

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Designing for a full sheet of watercolor paper, Lyn Baldwin pencilled a large territorial map surrounded by titling, color codes, and significant tools used by natural journalists. In the photo below on the left, Lyn has created vignettes containing the ten essential gear items for a field journalist.

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Mt. Rainier's Wonderland Trail is the subject of Jessi Loerch's memoir map. She filled her sheet of paper with meaningful drawings and quotes.

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