ART! Ever-changing worlds frozen in time. Joseph Tarella, mapmaker

Joseph Tarella, talented mapmaker and owner of Coastal Art Maps who captures the beauty of the United States shorelines through breathtaking, hand-drawn maps, has just released a gorgeous new map of Newport, RI.

Centered on the iconic New England resort harbor town, this map situates Newport in context with the surrounding waterways and islands (Jamestown) and highlights the strategic positioning of the original colonial enclave. With its periodic reinvention of itself from seafaring pilgrims to prosperous whalers, then later to an upscale summer retreat (The Breakers) and yachting center (America’s Cup), this natural port has been part of the American story since the days of the Founding Fathers.

Coastal Art Maps currently has more than three dozen maps in circulation, depicting the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, and Texas coastlines.  The maps are available online – and also the Newport map is at the pop-up gallery Gallery Sitka, at 227 Spring Street in Newport. Gallery hours are Thursday through Friday, 11am to 3pm and Saturday, 11am to 5pm, or by appointment by calling: 344-0296.

Each map in the Coastal Art Maps collection represents a moment when an ever-changing world is briefly frozen in time. Tarella uses the time-honored tools of pen-and-ink and watercolor washes, resulting in an extraordinarily tactile quality not easily achieved using more modern, mechanical methods. 

These maps make treasured keepsakes for beach or boating enthusiasts, nature and nautical lovers, sportsmen, fisherman, art collectors, history aficionados, and anyone who has spent precious time in these beloved locales. The maps – singularly or as a collection – make special, memorable gifts for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, Father’s Day, and other special occasions. They enhance the décor of any home, office, boat or beach house.

Tarella combines his architectural experience, passion for travel and love of map-making to create stunning hand-drawn maps of the nation’s most gorgeous coastlines. Tarella, a trained architect and owner of SawickiTarella Architecture+Design PC, also customizes maps, identifying specific locations, per customer request.

Artist’s statememt

I have been an artist and an architect working in this area for over 30 years. During my career, I have had the opportunity to design many diverse projects. As a young professional, I was assigned the creation of numerous maps for the urban design firm that employed me. Now, some twenty five years later, I’ve returned to this genre which is allowing me to express a more mature aspect of my aesthetic development. Energized by the designing of my own home at the shore, I was reminded of my love of maps as well as my growing professional separation from actual artistic pursuits. In deciding to create what turned out to be the first of many maps, I was able to reconnect with the enthusiasm of my younger days and produce work that is both personally satisfying and which resonates for the many viewers it has reached. The ongoing results, the Coastal Art Map series, has been an unexpected success and a continuing inspiration to remain open to one’s own artistic leanings. As career goals and life changes impact what my time is devoted to, older pursuits have become newly engaging and rewarding.

The pleasure I get in making the maps comes partly from the sense of accomplishment of successfully rendering the three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional medium. But equally, there is the sheer joy of creating a piece of artwork using the time-honored tools of pen-and-ink and watercolor washes. The tactile quality that one gets in using these media allows for a kind of expression not easily achieved using more modern, mechanical methods. In feeling the scratch of the pen nib across the tooth of the vellum, a certain connection is gained that gives each piece its individuality and allows unplanned serendipity to flourish. The variations of line and density of color, the meaning of edges and the rendering of unstable elements such as the sea; all combine to create the final composition. Each map represents a moment when an ever-changing world is briefly frozen in time. It is perhaps the chance to explore this very aspect which draws me to the coastal areas. The meeting of the land and the water is constantly in flux and capturing any particular moment presents an endlessly renewed artistic challenge.

For more information, please visit www.coastalartmaps.com.