Today's draw

The card drawn earlier today was the 17 of spades! Yes, seventeen since there is now a card in the deck which instructs me to add ten to a card of each suit. This former seven of spades is now a seventeen and had me move to the N19/W21 panel. I am now moving right to left and top to bottom as I did until about a year ago when I switched to moving North, South, East or West depending on the suit drawn.

The card also instructed me to make a new 1/16 scale page, and I have done that. Then I added seventeen 1-inch square collage pieces emanating from the red-circled crosshairs near the upper right of the panel. The instruction to do a 1" paint band was ignored since the entire sheet has already been painted.

The final Summerhall product

Here, thanks to friends of friends of friends (and I hope they don't mind my using their excellent photo!), is what the installation in Edinburgh looked like. The exhibition closes on January 24. So, if you are in the neighborhood, stop by before it's too late!

Back at work in my studio

I went to Edinburgh and London over New Year's with my wife, Meg Staley, our two sons, Henry and Lucky, and had a fabulous time! Hogmanay at Summerhall was a big treat thanks to all our new friends there.

I got back to Michigan on Tuesday but was stuck in Detroit overnight because of the winter storm and sub-zero temperatures. We drove back to the farm on Wednesday, and I got re-installed in my studio on Thursday. So, I am now back at work and in total bliss.

I am going to attempt in 2014 to post to this blog more often than in the past, but I am always torn between working on the Map and doing the peripheral things.

We'll see.......

Meantime, Happy New Year! And check out the new Ebay listings!

Further progress.....

The room is filling up! We should have the floor covered by the end of the day today and be able cover it with giant Plexiglas sheets. Timing is tight, but I expect that we can complete the installation by tomorrow's opening.

See you there!

Progress

We have been told that the Map will be delivered to Summerhall sometime this morning. Teams of installers will be ready! I have estimated that it will take three days to complete the mounting. So, we should be finished by the time of the opening reception from 7 to 9PM on Friday.

Come on down! The show runs from  Dec 7 to Jan 24. I'll post a link to their website. Hope to see you!

Waiting....

I have been in Edinburgh for a week now waiting for the arrival of those four Saran-wrapped wine boxes containing the Map. We haven't been able to figure out exactly where they are right now but have been told by the shipper that they were due to arrive tomorrow, December 1.

In the meantime the gallery, shown above, sits empty. By the opening on Friday it should be covered, walls and floor, with my work. In the photo you can see one of the sheets of Plexiglas which will be on top of that part of the Map which will be mounted on the floor. Visitors will be able to walk from Southport to Jackson!

More on Edinburgh

Paul Robertson, the Curator at Summerhall in Edinburgh, and I, with the help of Holly and David, are madly trying to arrange for the shipping of the 3011 panels which currently constitute the Map. The show is scheduled to open on December 6, but the details of getting the monster over there are proving to be more complicated than anticipated. We'll keep you informed.

In the meantime David and I have copied about 400 panels which will give me something to work on while the originals are on exhibit.

Chris Miller and his brother Nick were here from Nashville and Charleston, WV, respectively. They interviewed me with the idea of writing something about the Map. It remains to be seen what direction their work will take.