Mapping Art

Edward Wedler and I were both instructors at COGS in the 1980s. Edward was teaching Remote Sensing. I was teaching GIS. Eventually, the uncertainty of contract employment forced us to move on. Edward and his wife, Anne, purchased The Inside Story in Greenwood. Heather and I disappeared, with family, to Indonesia, California and beyond. And yet, we still managed to keep in touch.

Edward and Anne both have a passion for Plein Air Art. This takes place in Nova Scotia from Spring to Fall and Florida in the Winter.

With the changing technologies, Edward has kept on top of the new online mapping tools. This allows him to map the location of Plein Air sites. Currently, he is trying to engage COGS in the links between Google and his online Plein Air maps. Again, opening up the possibility of collaboration between the college and the community.

Edward and Anne belong to six plein air art groups; three in Nova Scotia. Each year Edward publishes “paint-out” locations (50+ sites) for the season (PAAAV and PAAHRM).

He has also created a map at tinyurl.com/PleinAirMap to keep artists, art-lovers and tourists connected — locally, nationally and internationally. He uses Google products as these are more readily accessible to him and to the art community. The map currently has 5,000+ map views. Google also has loose connections between its many Google Drive products (eg Sheets, Forms, Calendars, Maps) that lend themselves to exciting R&D opportunities for an Innovation Hub. He feels that, with greater community college collaboration, students would gain by technical exposure to and training with Google Maps and related tools. The community would gain through local, shared incubator-projects in an Innovation Hub.  The Hub would gain by scaling locally-developed solutions and building intellectual property.

Mapping Art can also be seen as the Art of Cartography. There is an excellent local example in the Valley. Marcel Morin, COGS graduate, has established the business, Lost Art Cartography.

For myself, mapping the landscape is fundamental to any decisions related to land use. It continues to astound me that the Municipality of Annapolis County does not avail itself of the resources at COGS to make ‘evidence-based’ decisions on land use planning in the county, on behalf of its citizens. This is relevant to Forestry, Agriculture and any climate change strategy.

Yet another reason for the ‘community’ to be actively involved in the research and development agenda at the Innovation Hub in Lawrencetown (I noticed today that we are seeing the framework for the new multi-storey structure). The clock is ticking……..

Footnote

In retirement, many elders find their passion in the arts, science or a combination of the two. Edward and I appear to be examples of this growing trend.

Acknowledgements

Edward for his passion for both art and technology.

References

Plein Air painting sites.
Marcel Morin. Lost Art Cartography.