Jerry at the Folk Art Museum

I plan to be at the American Folk Art Museum in New York from 2 to 5PM on January 21, 2018, the day the show "Vestiges and Verse" opens. It includes about 400 of my Map panels.

I hope to see you there!

For all the details go to folkartmuseum.org.

The newest Void

The newest Void, V.102, is actually pretty old as Voids go. It dates back to Map Year 731 or January, 2007 in our time. It goes back to a time when Voids were simply marker "Incursion" and were not numbered. I rediscovered it just today when the instruction card took me to its neighbor, panel N10/W22. I then assigned it the next "V" number, 102.

Voids have recently turned a corner on the Map and are now beginning to take over large chunks of terrain. I am fascinated as I watch them turn whole panels white and then grey.

Upcoming dates

On January 21, 2018 I will be at the American Folk Art Museum in New York for the opening day of their show, "Vestiges and Verse." The show, curated by Valerie Rousseau, will include about 400 Jerry's Map panels like the ones above. For more information, go to folkartmuseum.org.

An organization at MIT devoted to storytelling and worldbuilding has invited to to speak at a symposium in Cambridge in early February. Details to follow.

Then, on May 10, I will be back at the Folk Art Museum to lead a workshop on map making. The details are at the Museum's website.

I hope to meet some of you at one (or more) of these events!

The great art giveaway!

Earlier this year I made a gift of 20 Jerry's Map panels (like the ones above) to the American Folk Art Museum in New York. That act inspired me to do the same for other museums both in the U.S. and overseas. The Aichi Prefectural Art Museum in Nagoya had already accepted a gift after the Triennale there in 2016.

So, I made a list of potential donees and put their names in a hat. I used the same process to determine which group of panels the museum would receive. The first gifts were sent out in June. One museum graciously accepted. Two museums rejected the offer, but only one of the two returned the panels. The most recent package went out yesterday.

If you know of a museum or other public institution which would like like such a gift please let us know! I'll put their names in the hat.

A fresh invitation to artists

The panel above was created by Chris Hassig, a very talented artist, and given to Jerry's Map six or eight years ago. It has been to Edinburgh, Paris, and Nagoya and is now being absorbed into the fabric of the bigger Map. Bits of the panel, copied on label paper, have been sprinkled throughout the larger work as collage.

You can become a guest artist, too. Any 2-D, 8 by 10 inch images are eligible. Maybe some of you who follow Jerrymapping on Reddit would like to contribute!

Questions? Email me at gretzingermap@gmail.com.

Watch here, too, for details of a Jerrymapping workshop to be held in New York in 2018.

Also on Etsy

In addition to Map prints and originals we are offering original instruction cards on Etsy. They're going for about $15 each, and there's a good selection available right now. Check it out!

JerrysMap on Etsy!

Julie just finished stocking our new Etsy store, JerrysMap! Take a look! There are instruction cards, postcards, prints, and original panels. All proceeds from store sales go directly back into the production and showing of Jerry's Map. Thanks!

More than you'd ever want to know about Jerry's paint rituals

I recently revised my system of paint mixing. The paints in the box, 35 of them, constitute the current Map palette. Those bottles queued up on the right are waiting to get blended into that palette. When the "Add new color" command comes up in the cards the next jar on the wait list gets added to the jar bearing that day's date. As much of is added as is needed to fill the dated jar to the neck. The altered jar gets shaken, and samples of the new color are recorded in my log book and painted onto the jar's cap.

This represents a fairly radical change from the old "Add new color" protocol. In that earlier version the new color was added to the palette jar nearest the new color in hue. That meant that changes to the palette were pretty subtle. Under the new rules a bottle of blue might be added to a current bottle of red or yellow. The results would be, as you can imagine, fairly dramatic.

The new protocol may result in a palette that consists of 35 shades of mud or taupe. That would cause me to rethink the whole process. We'll see!

Permanent homes for the Map

I am embarking on a project  to find permanent homes for Jerry's Map. Last year I donated 60 panels to the Aichi Prefectural Art Museum in Nagoya.  What I am proposing to do now is to give groups of 20 contiguous panels each (like the one pictured above) to as many as 150 museums worldwide. A major American museum in New York is currently in the process of accepting the first 20-panel gift.

As you probably know, because of the iterative process of creating the Map, there are several versions of it. Currently there are three complete sets and one partial one. The donated groups will come from what is known here in the studio as "Exhibition One," the oldest complete version. Sets 2 and 3 will remain available for shows.

If you know of a museum that would like to be considered for this project please contact us. We're open to suggestions!

Thank you.

The latest numbers

As of April 18, 2017 the Map incuded 3460 panels spanning 584 inches (or 48' 8") in width and 610" (50' 10") in height. Allowing for 1/2" between panels when mounted the Map would measure almost 52 feet wide by a little over 53 feet in height. There are now, in addition to the studio set of panels, three exhibition sets which each contain about 3000 panels. The total of all generation original panels is now 15,800.

The video on Vimeo has now been viewed 282,000 times and has received 2369 "likes". There are 399 Twitter followers who have "liked" the Jerrysmap tweets 1842 times. 

A new invitation to artists

Are you an artist? Do you want to participate in Jerry's Map? Send us any 8 by 10 inch 2-D image, and we will put it in the stack waiting to be turned into panels of the Map. Just understand that, over time, your image (like the one above which was supplied by our friend, Chris Gill) will be obscured by the Map itself. In the meantime your image will also be turned into collage material which will be scattered across several panels. 

Questions? Ask us! Or simply send images to 9478 S. Maple City Road, Maple City, Michigan 49664.

Thanks!

Map assemblage

Here is the most recent 1/4 scale Map assemblage, L-VI. It shows 16 panels in the Northeast quadrant of the Map and includes Void 57 at the center.

Ebay bargains!

A print of this panel is currently on sale on Ebay for $6.83! Other prints, postcards, jpegs, and original panels are listed at prices from 99 cents to $470. Go to ebay.com and search "Jerry's Map."

Selling Map items serves several purposes: 1) it's a small ego boost to the artist when something sells, 2) sales help defray the costs of producing and exhibiting the work, and 3) shipping pieces of the Map to collectors across the globe helps ensure its preservation. Who knows? Your grandchildren may be called on to loan their panels for a major assemblage of Jerry's work!

Please help us for any of the above reasons or just because the Map appeals to you in some personal way. Thanks!

Mystery pageviews

For the past few months there have been 240 phony pageviews per day to my blog. They come in at the rate of 30 every three hours. I have tried to figure out why this happens and haven't found any explanation. Feedback sent to Blogger has gone unanswered. Can anyone explain to me why this is happening?  Thanks!

Jerry's Map this March

This March, the map will be on exhibit at the Charleston West Virgina Artwalk and at the University of Wisconsin Steven Point.

Charleston, WV Art Walk

I will be giving an artist talk on Wednesday, March 15 at 6pm at Taylor Books. The Art Walk will be on Thursday, March 16th from 5-8 pm and a large part of the map will be on exhibit at the bookstore from March 1st to April 3rd.

UW Stevens Point 

At Stevens Point, the map will be on display at the Edna Carlsten Art Gallery as a part of the Terrain / Territories : Dreams of Place exhibition. 

The opening reception will be on Wednesday, March 15 at 4-6pm. Here the map will be on display from March 15 to April 15.

Hope to see you there!

The cards updated

Here are nine recently retired Map instruction cards. Many of you have asked me to publish all the cards or all the rules which govern the execution of my Map. I'd love to do that, but the task is just too daunting. Many of the rules exist only in my head and have since the Map's inception in 1963. Does anyone want to interview me and write down the whole process? If so, c'mon down!

Upcoming Map Events in early 2017

It's a bit of short notice, but for anyone in the NYC area, there will be a lecture at The American Folk Art Museum featuring several artists, including yours truly. The lecture will be from 10:00am-12:00pm this Thursday on January 19th. I'll be there and hope to see you too.

In other news about the map - there are plans to have parts of it displayed in Charleston, WV and at Stevens Point, WI in early spring of this year. I'll keep you posted with more information as it comes along!