{"id":1844784,"date":"2025-07-27T17:20:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T21:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1844784"},"modified":"2025-07-27T17:20:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T21:20:36","slug":"re-purposing-maps-the-art-of-mark-m-garrett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/07\/re-purposing-maps-the-art-of-mark-m-garrett\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-Purposing Maps: The Art of Mark M. Garrett"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Mark<\/a>
Mark M. Garrett, \u201cUnterwalden,\u201d 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Responding to my post about Joanathan Bessaci\u2019s map cutout art<\/a>, Fred DeJarlais wrote to point out that the California Map Society<\/a>\u2019s journal, Calafia<\/em>, featured another artist using a similar technique, Mark M. Garrett<\/a>, in its Fall 2022 issue. It\u2019s a good piece in which Garrett goes into detail about his inspiration and method, but since Calafia<\/em>\u2019s archives are member-only, I\u2019ll point you to Garrett\u2019s website<\/a>, which is full of examples of his work, and where he explains his work thusly<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

At some point I began to fold paper and ‘draw’ with scissors . . . particularly re-purposing maps or anatomy texts culled from flea markets or estate sales. I often incorporate opaque and transparent watercolor as an extension of the color palette printed on the charts. I find comfort in the creative and obssesive nature of these collages as each reveals a unique process and persona over time. New worlds emerge in oddly emotional interpretations of once familiar places. There’s an anticipation as they shift and evolve from factually printed documents to new and potentially uncertain places of possibility. The technique of hand-cutting maps and painting in the gaps emerged for me as a metaphor of holding the world even as its outlines shift radically and unpredictably.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Responding to my post about Joanathan Bessaci\u2019s map cutout art, Fred DeJarlais wrote to point out that the California Map Society\u2019s journal, Calafia, featured another artist using a similar technique, Mark M. Garrett, in its… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:hhxrnk4vub7jtlcl3ve26kjo","date":"2025-07-27T21:20:39+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:hhxrnk4vub7jtlcl3ve26kjo\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3luxyznipgr2h","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:hhxrnk4vub7jtlcl3ve26kjo\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3luxyznipgr2h\",\"cid\":\"bafyreihf4ljkg4fntsljzfeqgingkowvf66htcn7iiom3dgntweghmjg6a\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreicm2zn7wpjzvybn4zkr443t3hfkwh5lnssb2bvxo2tsvkpoyuq3ka\",\"rev\":\"3luxyznixar2h\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1742],"class_list":["post-1844784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-art","tag-cutouts","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4813,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/09\/new-map-books-for-september-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844784,"position":0},"title":"New Map Books for September 2017","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 September 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Map books coming out this month: The Art of Cartographics (Goodman) is available now in the U.K. but won't come out in North America until March 2018. The publisher describes it as \"a stunning collection of maps designed in a unique way. [...]\u00a0This carefully curated book selects the most creative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/art-of-cartographics-116x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1628562,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/01\/snowfall-as-animated-relief-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844784,"position":1},"title":"Snowfall as Animated Relief Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 January 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"Here's something neat from Garrett Dash Nelson:\u00a0\"the total seasonal snowfall in the continental US for 2017\u20132018 so far, shown as a relief map,\" where total snowfall is expressed as elevation. That's neat. Even neater: the animated gif that depicts it (a frame of which is above). Even neater than that:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weather and Climate"","block_context":{"text":"Weather and Climate","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/weather-and-climate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gd-nelson-snow-relief.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gd-nelson-snow-relief.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gd-nelson-snow-relief.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788902,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/06\/bending-lines-an-online-exhibition-from-the-leventhal-center\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844784,"position":2},"title":"Bending Lines, an Online Exhibition from the Leventhal Center","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 June 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Bending Lines: Maps and Data From Distortion to Deception, the latest exhibition from the Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library, is a wide-ranging, comprehensive look at the relationship between maps and the truth. We expect maps not to lie, but maps have misled, propagandized or at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1786226,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/09\/the-onion-the-cartographers-secret-continent\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844784,"position":3},"title":"The Onion: The Cartographers’ Secret Continent","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 September 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"The Onion: World\u2019s Cartographers Continue Living Secret Life of Luxury on Idyllic, Never Disclosed 8th Continent. \"'Ah, yes\u2014this is the life,' said topographical researcher Garrett Farthing, chuckling to himself as he delicately put the finishing touches on yet another map showing their current location to be an empty stretch of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Imaginary Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/imaginary-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3544,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/12\/an-economic-geography-of-the-united-states\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844784,"position":4},"title":"An Economic Geography of the United States","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 December 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"In a paper published in\u00a0PLOS One, Garrett Dash Nelson and Alasdair Rae explore whether megaregions\u2014i.e., a region centred on a major\u00a0metropolitan area\u2014can be determined algorithmically, using commuter flow data. In the end they conclude that \"any division of space into unit areas will have to take into account a 'common\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Geography"","block_context":{"text":"Geography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/geography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/nelson-rae3-150x97.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/nelson-rae3-150x97.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/nelson-rae3-150x97.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/nelson-rae3-150x97.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/nelson-rae3-150x97.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/nelson-rae3-150x97.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791202,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/06\/legos-11695-piece-world-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844784,"position":5},"title":"Lego\u2019s 11,695-Piece World Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 June 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Lego\u2019s recently announced world map is 104 cm by 65 cm (41 \u00d7 26 inches) and has a staggering 11,695 pieces. 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