Maps to Places Real and Places Richly Imagined

The Philadelphia Inquirer has an interesting story about the Hand Drawn Map Association.

From the article...

Ever heard of the Hand Drawn Map Association? You're not alone, though dedicated map followers know it well.

Founded in 2008 by Fishtown artist and designer Kris Harzinski, an obsessive collector of ephemera, it is, for the time being, Harzinski's collection of all kinds of handmade maps, from directions from a laundromat to a sushi restaurant, rendered in a few black lines on a scrap of a paper, to a complex map of the Chicago suburbs drawn by an 8-year-old wunderkind. (It's also the subject of a charming new book, From Here to There, published by the Princeton Architectural Press.)

"Art," per se, is not a pursuit of Harzinski's, and though some of the works in his archive happen to be by artists, he sensibly borrowed works from artists and various collections to flesh out his exhibition "Nowhere: Selections From the Files of the Hand Drawn Map Association" at Arcadia University Art Gallery.

A good idea, since these non-HDMA artworks add a level of sophistication and intention to the show, and emphasize the widespread incorporation of the map and diagram into contemporary art.