Archive by Author

Lisa Middleton: A traveler’s Journey

20 Aug
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Growing up on the Upper Mississippi River valley, Lisa Middleton’s bedtime stories were tales of her parents’ adventures in Australia, south Asia, and Europe, where they were backpacking and travelling as teachers in the 1970’s. Family trips in her parents’ RV to places like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Arizona, and Florida, were the highlight […]

The Art of Sherry Tuss: reflecting wildlife in watercolor

20 Jul
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Great River Arts is proud to feature the art of Sherry Tuss in our new Living Legends collection. As Lisa has traveled the country she has met several artists to have been devoted to their trade for many years. This collection serves as additional representation for the artists and to supply affordable prints to the artists […]

Catalan Atlas: Portolan Meets Mappa Mundi

20 Jun
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Referred to as one of the last great mappa mundis before the emergence of ptolemic maps in the 15th century, the Catalan Atlas was produced in 1375, with the originals in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (National Library of France) in Paris today. The creator of the Catalan Atlas is believed to be the Majorcan […]

The story of old maps

13 Jun
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Mapmaking or cartography has been a part of our world’s history since ancient times.  In truth, many specialists agree that map making had its beginning with cave paintings.  However, the oldest known maps are carved on Babylonian clay tablets dating to about 2300 B.C. These maps were considered extremely advanced in Old World Greece. In […]

Hereford Mappa Mundi

06 Jun
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This great, detailed, and elaborately decorated mappa mundi is believed to be the only surviving complete example of a medieval wall map of the world. It is housed in Hereford Cathedral in Hereford, England. The precise date and creator of this mappa mundi is unknown, but speculations have filled that void. Some scholars believe that […]

The Portolan Mystery: Carte Pisane Antique Map

30 May
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The Portolan Mystery: Carte Pisane   The mystery that is Carte Pisane Antique Map  is one of the most important documents in the history of navigation. The Carte Pisane is the earliest surviving portolan chart that is speculated to have been drawn between 1290 and 1300, and is now located in the Bibliothèque Nationale Library […]

The Sawley Mappa Mundi c.1190 Antiquarian Map

11 Mar
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The Sawley Mappa Mundi c.1190   Modern eyes look for maps to be topographical with large-scale detail, contour lines, and accurate graphic representation of natural and cultural features of a region. They tend to serve as significant points of reference and as a navigation tool. These are the types of maps that generally make sense […]