Residency
“I consider the narrative information other senses can provide, not only in the visual imagery of text itself but through form…This exploration coincides with a study of rural psychogeography and the non-textual language of hobo code during my 2019 residency at..."
In April/May of 2019 I was back in my home state of Wisconsin for a residency. I was accepted as a maker-in-residence at TRH (see essay), which is in the very middle of the state, a place I had never really explored when I still lived in the Midwest. It was the perfect time of year to be there, a quiet and beautiful spring time retreat.
The homestead is in a town of under 200 people, with the Tomorrow/Waupaca River running right behind the property. It was originally an elder care facility, and in addition to hosting artist residencies, was a site for Air BnB and community gathering (it’s on a main road in the town, basically right across the street from the post office)
My room was delightfully cozy, with a bed and a desk right next to a sunny window.
I wanted to know more about this town, so I began going on long observational walks. I didn’t really know my way around, but the roads are not as complex as in a city. There are a few big roads that lead to more big roads, that eventually lead to county highways. I was interested in all the unexpected things I could observe in such a “boring” non-urban place. I brought a mini-tape recorder and spoke notes on each observation.
I wanted to turn all of my observations/experiences into a map for others who would visit the homestead in the future, community locals and traveling visitors alike. The most important element in the area was clearly the river. I experimented with crocheting some scraps of blue fabric I had torn into tiny strips.
Plus, because I was there for a month I was able to attend a lot of spring events, thanks to the organizer/director of the residency who is very welcoming. This was from an annual May Day festival on a local farm with many generations of locals spinning ribbons around a 50+ year old maypole and beating on drums.
It looks great! I sewed the crochet ribbon of water onto my fabric map, with the area that runs through the town in the very center of the canvas.
I also saw a lot of wildlife on these observational walks. Like this groundhog! I wandered around an abandoned summer camp situated on a public lake, and I guess the sun and lack of population inspired this little one to venture outside a while. There were also sightings of baby foxes, bald eagles, and plenty of different North American early spring birds (red-winged blackbirds, blue jays, robins, etc.)
I chose map symbols based on categories of things I had observed, the kind of things I would look for in an unfamiliar place, or the kind of overlooked places I thought others should know about. Pictured here is the patch for “landmark” based on the form of the oldest structure in the town, a mill from the 1860s that was once powered by the waters of the Tomorrow/Waupaca River (and was in use as a grain mill until the 1980s!). I printed the patches with carved linoleum stamps and a barren made of a smooth river rock found on the river bank behind the property.
Many other symbols were based on Hobo Code, a pictorial language that transient workers in the early 20th century adopted and used to inform/warn others of distinct places in railway-side towns (the southern border/town just south of the border is a place where a few railroad tracks still cross. It was, and still is, a hotspot for train hoppers). From the top left corner (moving left to right, top to bottom) the patch symbols are: “rad folkx” (from hobo code “kind gentleman/lady lives here”), landmark, farm (original hobo code), nature trail (from hobo code “go this way”), wildlife sighting (from hobo code “good dog”), nice smell, fresh water (from hobo code “clean water; good place to camp”), good food (from hobo code), craftsperson/artisan, treasure (from modern/updated 21st century hobo code - it’s a rainbow in a dumpster!), rural legend, good place for town gossip (from hobo code “be bold here”), a quiet place (from hobo code “be quiet”). I printed 20+ of each patch.
As a guide, I made this old-school simple 8-pager zine from hand written and taped pages which were later scanned. I produced a large edition to stay with the map at the homestead. The symbol and title are also taken from hobo code, an indication to outside travelers to watch out for the symbols other previous travelers have left for them.
And I got to work on sewing! I sewed only a few major roadways, railroads, and nature trails in order to keep the map simple (I wanted the river to be the main point of reference). I also sewed a red star at the location of the homestead.
Sadly, I only got to complete a few at the residency. But luckily for me, I still had some time in Wisconsin before sailing away on a ship that summer. So I was able to complete the rest of the edition while in a different town in Wisconsin and send it to the Nelsonville post office (the only place to send mail, as there is no delivery - incidentally the best place for town gossip because everyone is there when it opens at 10 am to retrieve their mail.)