Week 6: Mapping Penland

   Week 6's book is titled Mapping Penland: A Sunday to a Sunday. It is the diary of an artist during one week at a remote artist retreat... illustrated as a map and a compilation of lines. 

The title and first Sunday diary entry..

The text was typewritten on the computer and printed with an Epson inkjet printer. The map was hand drawn with a Sharpie Marker. Colored Sharpie Markers were used for the lines depicting movement from place to place. The colored markers were matched with the day of movement. A Legend was added to the map, showing which line color corresponded to which day.

Legend of line colors of the days

the whole map..

The book was folded as a commercial map might be folded... the text is viewable on the outside and the hand drawn map is on the interior.

Monday-Thursday

An excerpt of Monday's entry...

Monday: Awoke to my phone alarm tinkling at 8am; took a shower and headed up to Northlight for the 9am introductory meeting with Jerry. Sat with Gail, and Edwina comes in and joins us. After the meeting, spend an inordinate amount of time trying to decide about coffee... should I buy it at the Coffeehouse for a dollar? should I make it at Young House...(my assigned cooking house)? should I make it at my living house, Radcliff? should I make it in the studio? I decided to make it at Young House. ..Filled the coffeepot and it didn’t work. Moved it to the other side of the room. It still didn’t work. I took the coffee bag, the full and damp filter, my cream... and head to the studio. Jay and SaraBeth say they are making coffee for everyone before our 10am safety meeting, so I add mine to theirs... eventually I get my coffee. I met Ursula who teaches at Towson College in Baltimore and is working in the Print studio; I met Rebecca who is in the Letterpress studio with me and is a graphic designer in Charlotte; Jay leads the 10am safety meeting then shows Rebecca and me how to use the photopolymer platemaker and the computers. I move my stuff around and get situated into my two desk(s)... they look at the watertower and are the closest to the new bookstudio construction (lovely!!); I get out my stiff paper (Lenox?) to make more cards for The Gates game... I decide to start with pochoir of the background; I go to the school store to get supplies...no stamping inks are there but I get: two sponges to apply the inks or paints for a “stamp pad”, a glue brush for the pochoir, and a (totally random) tiny metal triangle; I go back to the studio and since I have Margaret Cogswell’s book I decide to use acrylic paints for the pochoir instead of inks... ugh.. really dry... I finish all 5 sheets.. but hate the look and the other person working in the room has music playing that is really annoying... so I go back to my room for earplugs; decide to have breakfast/lunch since it’s 2:30 now.. lay in bed and play computer games and eat the leftover cabbage, apples and kielbasa... read, more games, check facebook, write some emails... (to Diann and Flea), I’m so tired. I never go back to the studio...or get out of bed, eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in bed for dinner and then snack on pbj with no bread; turn out the lights between midnight and 1am.

The coffee maker...

Pochoir....

Later in the week... the diary entries get shorter.. is this because more work is being done?

Friday to Sunday...

The movement still continues pretty heavy between Radcliff, the Letterpress Studio, and the School Store...

concentrated triangle: studio-Radcliff-car-Young House...

Many maps have Points of Interest... in this case, Room #9 Radcliff, was quite important.

Upper right window: the room

... and The Watertower... directly in front of the artist's desk...

the watertower...view from the desk

A close-up view of the Letterpress Studio, the Print Studio, and the community gathering place at Young House shows a fluidity that resembles a river.

Letterpress studio and Young House

The nearby creek... bubbling and tumbling over rocks, around curves and through the woods... is always in motion... just like the artist in Mapping Penland.

creek trail