This painting began as a commission for the 2020 CentraCare Earth Day Half-marathon (a sad COVID-cancel), and as such, it served well my ongoing interests in exploring the story of my community—St. Cloud, MN—through the lens of cartography.

As with any map, cartographers choose what story will be told through their visual representations of space and place (streets, points of interest, politically determined boundaries, watersheds, demographics, topography, migration patterns, school districts, rainfall, biodiversity, etc.).

This map measures courses.

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To be more precise, it explores the conversation between various courses.

Courses cut by the Mississippi River

Courses established for runners of our local half-marathon

Courses depicting the imagined migratory and familial habits of eagles

Courses tracing the possible trajectories of light as it confronts darkness…in each of us

And now I’m wondering what other courses should be measured.

Does hope have a course I could map for St. Cloud?

Does lament?

Longing?

Boredom?

Recovery?

Abuse?

Fear?

Love?

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