I’ve always found the practice of map making, cartography, fascinating. When I happen upon an artist inspired by the intricacy of maps, my heart skips a beat. Karen O’Leary’s work pulls together the art of the map and the simplicity of paper with her handcut creations.
She believes that a map is more than a navigational tool; it also tells us a story. When I view her work, I imagine what it would be like as a resident, walking through the urban grid visiting museums and dining at a street-side cafe.
StudioKMO offers handcut originals on Etsy like the beautiful Paris map above (my personal favorite).
Original ink drawings, prints (including canvas stretch) and trading card collectible pieces are also available. The notepad set with a mix of cities is the perfect stationery for a traveler or anyone who dreams of places beyond their corner of the world.
All images via artist’s Etsy shop, StudioKMO.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I love maps as art. Very cool!
Me too, we actually have a cartographer at work and I think it’s such a cool job. See the comment I left above for Sarah too.
Oh my gosh, I’m in love! I’m really quite taken with maps. Also found a website on Pinterest the other day that does watercolor style images and such of whatever zip code or place name you input: maps.stamen.com. Now off to that etsy site!
I love maps too Sarah. I follow a mixed media map artist blogger that was in an online blogging course that I took, you might enjoy her work too. http://www.marycnasser.com/
So intricately beautiful! They remind me of the projects we used to do in Chinese school where we got red paper, a pattern, and had to cut-out it out. Fun effects.
I googled it and that is so cool! You should that with J when he gets old enough to yield a scissors.