Architecture + Topography = ARCH-TOPO Drawing; Staunton VA

Staunton Virginia is city of hills! My passion of late has been trying to identify them by name from afar, approaching town. I think I've nailed it down - but please contact me of you find an error!    https://www.etsy.com/listing/166201209/staunton-virginia-archi-topo-map-16x16

I'll call this an ARCHI-TOPO Map as it combines [my favorite subjects] Architecture and Maps! 

This topographical map shows the city core, nestled among the hills, its main roads and railroad connecting the tidy metropolis of western Virginia to points north, south, east and west. Staunton's smorgasbord of architectural styles is featured in the border of the map-drawing, including the 10 block of West Beverley Street and a variety of houses found in Newtown.    https://www.etsy.com/listing/166201209/staunton-virginia-archi-topo-map-16x16

Gypsy Hill was part of the 975-acre Spring Farm in the 19th century.  Reservoir Hill hosts a ball field today and the substructures of an large water reservoir for town water.    https://www.etsy.com/listing/166201209/staunton-virginia-archi-topo-map-16x16

Gospel Hill hosted religious meetings and revivals when it was the rural edge of town before the late 1800s. Now Gospel Hill is covered with many of the largest homes in town.    https://www.etsy.com/listing/166201209/staunton-virginia-archi-topo-map-16x16

Mary Gray and Betsy Bell, the largest hills surrounding the city on the east, reflect the legend of two girls who ran away together to escape the plague in Ireland, built themselves a shack in the woods but eventually succumbed to death when a lover of one brought a plague-infected handkerchief as a gift. So tragic...     https://www.etsy.com/listing/166201209/staunton-virginia-archi-topo-map-16x16

Montgomery Hall, like Spring Farm / Gypsy Hill, was a large farm or plantation in the 1800s. It's also a city park, today, including the original manor house.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/166201209/staunton-virginia-archi-topo-map-16x16

Postcards, too! The topographical map with city blocks on front, the flags marking the various Staunton hills along the back, bottom.

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/166200962/staunton-virginia-topo-map-postcard

Find them in MY etsy SHOP:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/turnofthecenturies
and at Black Swan Books on Beverley Street.

Architectural Map-Drawings To Date: October 2013

I've added the Western States, as well as Provo, Newport Beach, Albuquerque Temples, as well as a second Staunton VA drawing in October. For November...on to the Midwest and Eastern States, as well as the Las Vegas, Detroit, Lima Peru Temples. Also, Virginia Tech and Blacksburg VA. And perhaps another Virginia Drawing...

American Heritage School Architectural Map-Drawing

Yesterday was the annual "Stepping Stones for Generations" benefit auction to help raise funds for this values-driven private school in American Fork, Utah. I was pleased to contribute an Architectural Map-Drawing that features the school, the Mt Timpanogos LDS Temple (just across the street), its corner of American Fork and the mountain in its backyard.
The American Heritage School Architectural Map-Drawing is now for sale:https://www.etsy.com/listing/166304699/american-heritage-school-utah-16x20

The American Heritage School Architectural Map-Drawing comes in BLUE or GREEN.https://www.etsy.com/listing/166304699/american-heritage-school-utah-16x20

American Heritage School Architectural Map-Drawing: blue and clay red
https://www.etsy.com/listing/166304699/american-heritage-school-utah-16x20

American Heritage School Architectural Map-Drawing: sage and clay red
https://www.etsy.com/listing/166304699/american-heritage-school-utah-16x20

The street lines merge with the topo lines of Mount Timpanogos. The mountain silhouette floats over the map.https://www.etsy.com/listing/166304699/american-heritage-school-utah-16x20

The American Heritage School is adjacent to the Mt Timpanogos LDS Temple. In this Drawing, the School's flag aligns with the temple spire.https://www.etsy.com/listing/166304699/american-heritage-school-utah-16x20

Best wishes, American Heritage School!  It was a pleasure to make this drawing and to work with Angelique.

The WESTERN STATES: USA Map-Drawings

I've just finished the Western States Map-Drawings! Working my way across the USA...https://www.etsy.com/shop/turnofthecenturies?section_id=14268693

Here they are - sort of geographically hung on my wall. Each drawing features the state tree and a quintessential or common small house type found in-state, layered over the state's borders and topography, and faint highways.  You choose the location of a small red heart or house - where's special to you? Available in 8x10 Prints and Postcards.https://www.etsy.com/shop/turnofthecenturies?section_id=14268693 

They're kind of 'kitschy cabin', and definitely made with love.
Here's WASHINGTON:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165023520/washington-state-map-8x10-print

I love the big trees out west!
Here's OREGON:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/164865770/oregon-map-postcard

Choose one or two - even three - hearts or houses to mark you special spots.
Here's CALIFORNIA:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165240106/california-map-8x10-print

The heart and house re-appear on the postcard back with a curly 'telephone' line between them.
Here's NEVADA:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165377629/nevada-map-postcard

I like playing with different shades of green for each state, and for the map, tree and house.
With a pop of red.
Here's IDAHO:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165365000/idaho-map-8x10-print

These postcards are fun to send to homesick friends or as wedding save-the-dates!
(I can design the back with your event info.)
Here's UTAH:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165606416/utah-map-postcard

The trees sometimes appear to emerge from the ground of the map.
Here's ARIZONA:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165307332/arizona-map-8x10-print

And, sometimes the houses emerge from the map's 'land'scape.
Here's NEW MEXICO:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165308076/new-mexico-map-8x10-print

View the state maps in my shop to learn where the houses are drawn from.
Here's MONTANA:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165815287/montana-map-postcard

and...ON TO THE MIDWEST!

Architecture USA: in the Works

Just a Preview of this week's Project -- The regional differences in American architecture will pair with their respective regions and illustrate a relationship between a region's climate, culture, and topography and its ways of building. A focus on small dwellings. I spent last week drawing this topographical map of America and am beginning the house drawings. Figuring out how to "pair" the houses and the land is my challenge - an architect's perennial dilemma!

In the meantime, I'm also snatching the states from this large topographical drawing and pairing them with a quintessential house type and state tree, as small prints and postcards, like these for South Carolina, featuring a Charleston side porch house.

Find More STATE MAPS here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/turnofthecenturies?section_id=14268693

Turn-of-the-Centuries: Why Draw?

All summer, I've been pondering a "post-graduation" post. What I learned in grad school, how I will apply that now, where I see my work in 20 years...Huge thanks to all of my professors and classmates for all they helped me learn... But I just could not tear myself away from making drawings, forging into new horizons, developing new ideas, seeing what's over the hill ahead, not contemplating the past.  I've definitely had thoughts of gratitude and direction made possible by my experience at the University of Virginia, School of Architecture. But I've been waiting for a quiet contemplative moment, at the top of a mountain, to write - and I never seem to be at the top. There is always another hill to climb! [These new works of the summer will find their way to this blog in the next few months, along with other new works inspired by place, architecture, travel, memory...]

Now, it's fall and I need to stake my claim and move forward. I will take this from a more immediate perspective, from real and recent situations: How to answer the question, "So, what do you do?" at a party and How to answer, for an article in an alumni magazine, "Where are you now and what are your career goals/aspirations?"  Sometimes clarity comes from thinking in the back of your mind, over time, then calling up those thoughts in a moment, no editing or filtering. So, here goes. These are my intentions for Turn-of-the-Centuries.

the short story:
I make Architectural Map-Drawings of places people love. They buy prints of drawings I've made, or commission new ones and hang them on their walls, give as gifts, send them as postcards. Organizations commission me to make drawings to commemorate or celebrate special places, like their headquarters, their main street, their town - kind of like in the 19th century when every city in America wanted to boost itself with a Bird's Eye View drawing. I'm intrigued by that tradition. I hope to make a small dent in the documentation of historic places in the 21st century with my drawings. I hope to help people appreciate historic buildings and places and contribute to the conversation that may ultimately preserve them.

the longer story:
PLACES & PEOPLE
I love drawing architecture. I love maps. I want to capture PLACES I love by drawing them. And I hope to share these places, this love, with PEOPLE, with you. 

Do you have a special PLACE in your heart? For me, and perhaps for you, life holds greater meaning thanks to the experiences we share with people and places. Memories are created in places that leave an imprint on our hearts. Bear with my mush... These PLACES remind us of treasured people and experiences. Childhood, Friendship, College years, Travel, First house, Dates, Engagement & Marriage, Children, Grandchildren. I love to draw a PLACE that holds such meaning. I feel it and I love it when others do, too.

What makes a place beloved? Historic buildings attest to the accumulation of these memories over time and, often, old buildings are loved more than they are valued in monetary terms. The National Trust publishes 11 Most Endangered historic places each year. And there are so many more. I create visual resources - drawings, maps, graphics - that help illuminate the value of historic buildings and places. Check out how the small but growing historic town of Eastport Maine is harnessing ART to appreciate, sustain and preserve their community - both culturally and architecturally - via The Tides Institute & Museum of Art: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tides-Institute-Museum-of-Art/164903096869190
[I'm thrilled to be one of the artists contributing to their renaissance. I completes a Streetscape drawing in 2011 and am currently working on a contemporary Bird's Eye View.]

Water Street, Historic District, Eastport, Maine.  The Tides Institute & Museum of Art.  Kirsten Sparenborg, Turn-of-the-Centuries, 2011. 

So, by drawing beloved PLACES, I can support:
1. Personal Expression of Memory and Meaning
2. Public and Personal Appreciation of Historic Buildings & Places
3. Preservation of Historic Buildings & Places
through personal acquisition, personal commission and public or institutional commission. [contact me]

but, wait! PEOPLE and their relationships are ripe for meaningful art, too. (note: I'm talking abstractly here. I do not draw people. I do not have that gift. : )  I draw Family Trees (and "Family Seas") for special gifts and family reunions. I also love to design wedding Save-the-Date cards. These uniquely combine PEOPLE + PLACE to celebrate a very special memory in the making.

I love doing this. I hope I can do something for you, to help visualize, commemorate, celebrate PLACES and PEOPLE that hold special meaning for you. I'm so grateful to be able to do what I love, to learn every day, with each new project. I'm grateful for the mentors, professors and friends who have taught me and helped me toward opportunities that have pushed me to learn to research and write, and to draw. I'm grateful for all of you who support me by purchasing my prints and postcards and books, for commissioning me to bring your memory to fruition by drawing. THANK YOU!

Kirsten Sparenborg Brinton

Architectural Map-Drawings to Date: September 2013

*click larger*       TOTC Architectural Map-Drawings to Date: September 2013