Scottsdale Arts Exhibition to Explore Visual Stories With Maps

Scottsdale Public Art’s newest exhibition, Maps — Contours of a Story, will open Jan. 9, 2025 and run through March 27 at Scottsdale Civic Center Library. The exhibition is a juried exhibition of artist maps that illustrate moments, ideas, and stories. 

The concept for this exhibition originated when Wendy Raisanen, curator of collections and exhibitions for Scottsdale Public Art, a department of the nonprofit Scottsdale Arts, participated in a fiber art class with co-curator Saskia Jordá. During the class, one of the assignments involved creating a personal map. 

“I thought that was the coolest idea,” Raisanen says. “I love maps; a lot of people love maps. You can see where you are in the state, in the nation, in the world, and there’s something comforting about it.Artists can look at the idea of a map in a totally different way. There are a few that use antique maps in the artworks, but most people are mapping out events in their lives.” 

One of these artworks is a cast aluminum sculpture by Mary Bates Neubauer. This sculpture maps numerical data in three dimensions. To realize these 3D models, custom coding was utilized, resulting in sculptural forms that look like landscapes but are not. They map numbers through time, presenting a nuanced picture of a “moment” in geological time. 

Alongside Neubauer’s sculpture, this exhibition features artwork of many mediums, including felted wool, acrylic paint, woven textiles, marble tile, handmade paper, and digital prints. Among these is Radius IV, a multimedia piece by co-curator and Phoenix-based fiber artist Saskia Jordá. 

“Maps are not just about physical locations; they’re about the invisible lines we draw—between places, people, and ideas,” Jordá says. “Through my work, I explore how these lines shape our sense of identity and belonging, inviting viewers to question the boundaries we take for granted.” 

Radius IV is part of the Disputed Territories series. These artworks explore “place identity” through hatched, colored lines and questions the ways in which we divide, use and share land, including how our borders (or lack thereof) determine our interactions with the land we inhabit. 

“I hope that people can sort of expand their conception of what a map is and can do,” Raisanen says. “A map can illustrate a story, and that story can be how a person migrated from Cuba to America or the feeling that they got while they were considering a next life step. A map can be a dotted line from A to B, but it also can be an ethereal concept or a leap of faith from one place to another.” 

Maps—Contours of a Story will be on display at Civic Center Public Gallery, located inside Scottsdale Civic Center Library.

In addition to the exhibition itself, related events include:

• Jan. 9, 2025: An opening reception to meet the artists from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Civic Center Public Gallery. Free; RSVP required
• Jan. 22,2025: At 10:30 a.m., join co-curator Saskia Jordá to imagine and build a fictional place by tracing, cutting, and layering paper, maps, and recycled materials. Free; RSVP required
• March 13, 2025: At 10:30 a.m., artist Jen Urso will lead attendees in creating customized maps, using various drawing materials that detail their real and imagined favorite places, daily journeys, and life histories.

3948 N. Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ 85251