Ryan McAbery was gifted old film negatives from the department of Fish and Wildlife. The negatives were clear, black and white maps. The simplicity of a transparent map was beautiful to her and she started illustrating on the negatives to see what I could come up with.

The ah-ha moment came when McAbery found her first elephant silhouette in an Idaho map - she realized she could illustrate familiar shapes from the map lines!

McAbery's work began in shadowbox frames from Ikea; illustration & map in the foreground, photograph in the background - the layered effect allowing all the different parts of the artwork to shine.

It wasn’t until she was commissioned to do a 4’ x 6’ piece that I realized I needed to upgrade the framing format. When McAbery designed the current “un-framed” style she opened up a world of contemporary art that introduced light, shadow, multiple layers and magic in to the work you see today.

All the background images are original photography, taken by me, on location and I've finally used up all the recycled maps. McAbery designs all the maps you see in my work today based on USGS, Aviation Maps, Nautical Charts and historical map hidden in the archives.

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