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Mapping Meaning: Adventures in Cartography

Exhibition

Mapping Meaning: Adventures in Cartography

Stashed in glove compartments, scrolling down on our phones and glowing on the metro, maps show us where to go and what to expect when we get there. The geography they interpret for us is, however, subject to the shaping influences of time and power. Coastlines are altered by rising sea levels, lands are “discovered,” boundaries are disputed and conquered, and cultures are created and erased.

Some maps are statements and some are fanciful. Some are mistaken, inserting an island or angling a lake at odds with reality. All maps reveal perspectives and priorities of the people commissioning or making them.

This exhibit presents a variety of beautiful maps and ways of reading them, along with objects from the times of their creation. Works date from the 16th century to the present, including a collection focusing on Scandinavia, a depiction of California as an island, and maps of the heavens. The works were generously loaned by the Dr. Ernst F. Tonsing Collection. Tonsing, a Cal Lutheran professor emeritus of Greek and religion, will present a related lecture at 4 p.m. Oct. 19, homecoming weekend.

 

Image: Andreas Cellarius (German, 1596-1665), Scenographia: Systematis Copernicani, from Harmonia Macrocosmica, first published 1660 by Johannes Janssonius, copper plate print, 18.5 x 22.25 inches. Loan courtesy of the Dr. Ernst F. Tonsing Collection.

Sponsored By
William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art

Contact

Rachel T. Schmid
rollandgallery@callutheran.edu
805-493-3697
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