The blog of artist cartographer Anton Thomas

A Tour of North America I

2/6/2020

The North America map has a vast amount of detail, and sharing the countless stories it holds is important. You're welcome to ask me about its contents, and I'm working on reference tools for the prints, but I also thought - why not take a tour from time to time?

So, I reopened my notebook, dived into the map, and picked 12 interesting places and cases to talk about. There is no underlying theme, just a scattershot journey across the map. So - welcome to the (first) blog tour of North America.

Locations of the 12 features being discussed this time.

1. The Sasquatch - Willow Creek, California

Something does not have to be real for it to matter (not that I’m saying Bigfoot is real or not, of course...). Mythology captures our imagination in vivid ways, and local legends play a significant role in the character of place. Whether it’s Nevada’s extraterrestrial highway or a plesiosaur in the waters of Loch Ness, urban legends and mythology are well-suited to a pictorial map.

Wandering the great redwood forests, in the shadow of Mt Shasta, is the Sasquatch.

I chose the area around Willow Creek, California for my Sasquatch, a tiny town well-known for its Bigfoot lore (the local museum even has a special Bigfoot collection). The famous Patterson-Gimlin footage was shot nearby in 1967, purporting to show a Sasquatch strolling across a creek. I based mine on the iconic pose from frame 352 of the (highly dubious) footage.

A question I'll leave you with – is this the only Sasquatch on the map? And beyond that, is it the only cryptid?

Frame 352 from the Patterson-Gimlin footage.

2. The Lionfish – Honduras coast

Animals are everywhere on my maps. They evoke place so well (what says Australia more than a kangaroo?), and are the inhabitants of the land or water that I draw. But not all animals are native, or do they contribute positively to local ecology. I could be referring to livestock of course, but also the problem of invasive species - a problem we know all too well in New Zealand.

The invasive lionfish (top right) approaches the reef.

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef stretches over 1,000km from the Yucatán to Honduras. It is the second largest reef system on Earth after Australia’s. The lionfish - an invasive species - is one of the most significant environmental challenges it faces.

Pictorial maps have often portrayed the world in an idealised fashion. There is good reason for this - every place has its troubles, and it's unfair to focus on trouble unevenly across places. Still, I felt the lionfish told an important story about the ecology of the Gulf of Honduras. Taking advantage of its impressive and menacing appearance, it is drawn here as a kind of villain on the reef.

3. Fallingwater - Southwest Pennsylvania

Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece in Pennsylvania first enchanted me as a little kid. I remember seeing a picture in a magazine and thinking it was the coolest house in the world. Well, some decades later my opinion hasn't changed.

Fallingwater is a stunning piece of architecture, so beautifully integrated with its tranquil surroundings. Drawing it only one centimeter (.4 of an inch) tall was extremely tricky, but I'm thrilled it's on the map.

There is another Frank Lloyd Wright building on the map (one that I can remember, that is. There could be more): The epic Falcon’s Nest in Prescott, Arizona.

4. The Titanic - North Atlantic Ocean

On 15 April 1912, some 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, the Titanic sank to the bottom of the ocean.

There are countless ships on the map, including other famous ones - Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge, Hemingway’s Pilar, Columbus’s Santa María.

In fact, there are all manner of ships - oil tankers, ice breakers, coastguard, cruise ships, fishing boats, warships, cargo ships, pirate ships, canoes and kayaks - but perhaps no vessel is more famous than the doomed Titanic. It's drawn on the edge of the map, steaming towards an iceberg right where it sank. Notice that it’s just off the continental shelf - the wreckage lies at a truly great depth of more than 12,000 feet.

The Titanic steams towards an iceberg (bottom right), in the deep ocean near the edge of the continental shelf.

5. White Raven – Haida Gwaii islands, Canada

In the 1990's, a white raven started appearing in Port Clements, a tiny town in Haida Gwaii. A true albino raven, rare to the point of being almost unheard of, it was a beloved resident of the town for years. It can still be seen stuffed and on display in the local museum.

Raven has a central role in Haida mythology - in some stories he is described as having created the islands by breaking apart a stone with his beak and casting the pieces into the sea.

Across Haida Gwaii and throughout the region, Raven can be seen painted on houses and carved into totems. Raven also tops the Haida longhouse I drew just southwest of the albino specimen.

The ultra-rare white raven at Port Clements, Haida Gwaii, BC.

The white raven also matched nicely with the white-furred Kermode, or "Spirit" Bear just across the Hecate Strait on the mainland. You can see it wandering BC's Great Bear Rainforest.

6. Baby, don’t you wanna go? – Chicago, Illinois

Muddy Water's guitar just south of Chicago, playing a bar from 'Sweet Home Chicago'.

Muddy Waters was one of the founding fathers of Chicago blues. His red Fender Telecaster is drawn there as a broad nod to the enormous cultural influence of the Midwest metropolis.

Now, there is a lot of musical content across the map. Often instruments will have decorative notes floating around them for a little noise. But in some cases I draw actual musical passages to represent a rhythm or melody.

In Cuba, a conga and claves are playing out the basic rhythm of the Rhumba. In Guantánamo, a Cuban tres plays the first line of the famous song 'Guantanamera'.

And back in Chicago, Muddy Water’s guitar is singing “baby, don’t you wanna go” (from that land of California, to my sweet home Chicago).

7. La Quebrada cliff divers - Acapulco, Mexico

Long before high-rise hotels began springing up along Acapulco’s shoreline, fearless locals were diving 30 – 40 metres (100 – 130 feet) from cliffs into the ocean below. The origin of this extraordinary high diving at the La Quebrada cliffs is uncertain, but one thing’s for sure – the divers have long been iconic of Acapulco. They still perform daily (and sometimes at night), so I drew a tiny diver plunging off a cliff in my rendition.

With its picturesque setting on the mountainous Guerrero coast, Acapulco has generally been one of Mexico’s primary tourist destinations. It exploded in growth from the 1940’s onward as it became a playground for Hollywood stars and millionaires. Sadly, in recent years cartel violence has been devastating in Guerrero, and Acapulco has been hit hard by the war.

A tiny diver jumps off the La Quebrada cliffs at Acapulco.

The southern Mexican state of Guerrero is mountainous and heavily forested. Acapulco is the largest city, while Chilpancingo is the capital.

8. Stonehenge II - Hunt, Texas

Yes, Stonehenge has a sequel... in Texas!

I first heard about it years ago when I was in Tennessee. I was visiting another European replica - the Nashville Parthenon - and a friendly gentleman from San Antonio was telling me about his beloved Lone Star state. Pointing to the Parthenon, he informed me that Texas had such things too - including a Stonehenge - but it “wasn’t all old and broken like that one in England. Ours is brand new!”

Most of the stones are constructed of plaster on a wire mesh frame, so I’m not sure it’s as durable as the original… but it made for a nice addition.

I also drew the real Stonehenge on an England-focused commission map several years ago.

Stonehenge II in Texas, south of Enchanted Rock.

The real Stonehenge in England, drawn in a commission map in 2017.

9. Mt Thor - Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada

Mt Thor (far right, middle) has a sheer vertical drop of 1250 metres.

High in the Arctic Cordillera, in the rugged west of Earth’s fifth-largest island, is the mighty Mt Thor. This peak has the world’s greatest sheer vertical drop, and even photos of it are awe-inspiring.

Despite its remoteness, many rock climbers pilgrimage there and it’s not hard to see why. Its record-topping drop is a dizzying 1250 m (4101 ft), much higher even than Yosemite’s El Capitan which is 914 m (3000 ft) from base to peak. Thor has also become a legend among BASE jumpers... which sounds truly terrifying.

Mt Thor is within Nunavut's Auyuittuq National Park, and the landscapes look otherworldly. The double-topped peak of Mt Asgard is also a spectacular sight (just northwest of Thor), and throughout the years of map drawing, Auyuittuq emerged as one of the places I'd most like to visit one day. I probably won't be BASE jumping though...

10. Che Guevara - Santa Clara, Cuba

A 2mm-tall Che Guevara next to my index finger for scale.

The face of Che Guevara in the Guerrillero Heroico photo is one of the most famous images in the world. It’s not dissimilar to Patterson-Gimlin’s Sasquatch - a motif, instantly recognisable - a piece of widespread popular culture.

Its ubiquity has almost divorced it from meaning, but there is a place where it's still connected to something real: Cuba. And in particular Santa Clara, where he is interred. The Battle of Santa Clara, led by Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, was a decisive moment in the Cuban Revolution and the city is home to his mausoleum. I drew the mausoleum with its tiny Guevara statue, and sketched a Guerrillero Heroico into the hillside. At a mere 2mm tall, this tiny illustration was particularly hard to execute.

Later when drawing the ocean, I added a red cushion sea star just off the coast to continue the communist theme.

Che Guevara's face at the city most associated with him, Santa Clara. His statue towers above the mausoleum.

Also, if you're particularly interested in Cuba, I wrote two blogs about the island while I drew it in 2016. Here is Part 1 and Part 2.

11. Tyrannosaurus Rex – Drumheller, Alberta, Canada

People often comment on the T-Rex menacing Calgary, although anyone from the region tends to understand immediately.

The striking badlands along the Red Deer River contain some of the richest deposits of dinosaur fossils on Earth, and the town of Drumheller honours this with its World’s Largest Dinosaur statue. Made of fiberglass and steel, this 86 foot (25 metre) T-Rex is... not exactly to scale. At twice the size of the largest specimen ever found, the World's Largest Dinosaur truly lives up to its name.

Countless fossils are scattered across the map, but this is the only dinosaur that still appears alive, even if channeled through a statue.

I do wonder about including extinct animals in future maps, perhaps drawing them translucently to be ghostly. It would be hard to imagine a decent rendition of Tasmania without the thylacine, for example.

Back in my home country of New Zealand, extinction has ravaged our island ecosystem. Since the first humans set foot there some 750-800 years ago, and accelerating through the colonial era, most of our endemic wildlife has been lost. I fully intend to draw a map of Aotearoa in the future, and I think I'd have to include moa, a Haast’s eagle, a huia and more.

12. Maps within maps - Texarkana, USA

I love maps within maps. Mine has a few, from the cartouche to Portland’s Oregon-shaped sign, to the North Pole map that greets you on Alaska’s Dalton Highway when crossing the Arctic Circle.

But my favourite map-in-a-map here is in Texarkana. This bi-state city straddles the border between Texas and Arkansas, and it’s well demonstrated by the sign outside the local post office. The sign has a map of both Texas and Arkansas, and its central beam aligns perfectly with the state line. I ensured my rendition of the sign lined up too.

These two state maps are (as anyone from Texas will tell you), not remotely to scale with each other.

And that concludes this tour! But...

Texarkana's bi-state identity is well illustrated by the Tex-Ark map sign outside the local post office.

...where would you like to hear about next?

I hope you enjoyed this first ever tour of North America. There are infinite places and features we could discuss, and I intend to make this something regular. Once you have your own prints, these tours will be helpful for getting to know the map and its immense details.

So, if you'd like me to include something in my next random tour - just comment your idea at the end of this blog! Whether it's a specific place, a certain feature, or a broader theme... I'd love to hear your requests.

So, until next time!

Half a page from the notebook used during the North America map. With thousands of points of interest, this was essential for me to keep track of what I drew.

Previous blog entry: New maps and new mountains (January 2020).

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