| April 13, 2022
The Visit
Sara and I returned Monday night from a four-day trip to Milwaukee to visit my brother and sister-in-law and my niece and nephew.
While there we also visited:
the American Geographical Society collection at the University of Milwaukee/Wisconsin. When the AGS could no longer sustain its home in New York City, it chose UWM as the recipient of its vast collection of maps, begun in the 1850’s with charts of artic waters. We visited this collection because Sara wanted to see The International Map of the World, a project proposed in 1891 by Albert Penck at the 5th International Geographical Congress.
According to Marcy Bidney, Curator of the AGSL, details in mapping, like scale and symbols, had varied by country or map maker for centuries. Marcy writes, “The main goal of the IMW was to standardize as much as possible. This created a ‘common map, for a common humanity’ according to Penck. In 1909, the standards had been fully set: English would be the primary language, maps would use a polyconic projection, and the colors scale was set. Another agreement was how the sheets would be organized. The map below is an index map from the 1940s, and it displays along both sides and in the middle how the lettering system would work. Also, the longitude coordinates along the top and bottom were divvied up into 6 minute segments, with Greenwich as the prime meridian.”
Of course, one has to ask of such extraordinary 19th century projects, whose idea of “we” does such a project inscribe, solidify and perpetuate. Nevertheless, one can’t help but admire the goal, which never, of course, saw completion due to two world wars and the subsequent predominance of the needs for maps drawn to air navigation specifics. As Marcy points out,“While borders were still featured on the aviation maps, the level of detail seen in the previous IMW maps lost its necessity. More important now were producing maps for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) since airlines were in need of reliable maps for navigation. “
In preparation for our visit, Marcy had also pulled out some maps related to upstate New York, including a 1771 map of “the Country of the VI Nations,” presented to and presumably made for the Governor of the “Province.” On this map the different areas occupied by the tribes of the Six Nations are clearly identified. Looking at this map, one has to wonder for what purpose it was made and, even more to the point, how would members of the tribes of the six Nations have viewed such a map? Would it have in any way coincided with their understanding of how they saw place?
I had not realized so clearly before that while maps may tell us how to get somewhere, they have even more to tell us about a particular map makers idea of “where.”
the Milwaukee Country Zoo, where my niece, Beth Fetterley Heller, has recently become Vice President in charge of the educational component of the zoo’s work. The Milwaukee County Zoo has for many years been in the forefront of zoo development, being among the first to create large habitats separated by natural barriers. Most animals experience enrichment programs on a daily or weekly basis, and many have areas where they can hang out if they want privacy.
Our “behind the scenes” tour, arranged for us by Beth, took us to, among other spots, the elephants exercise space and the zoo’s commissary. While visiting the elephants, our guide showed us a 40-page document outlining the conditions a zoo needs to meet if it wants to be certified by the American Zoological Society as appropriate for elephants. Reading this document was an education in itself, as it dealt with the required space, nutrition, enrichment, dust and water elephants must have. My reading, however, was interrupted by a demonstration of the exercise program the three elderly female elephants undertook each day in a large, sanded area. Led by hand signals from a human, the program included a series of leg lifts, balances, circles, backward movement, and the “downward dog” pose adapted from yoga (see photo).
Visiting a zoo, one doesn’t usually think about how the food needed for so many different creatures is managed. We got a glimpse of this process from our visit to the commissary, where among the piles of carrots and apples we were shown frozen micecicles and ratcicles. Luckily, elephants are vegetarians so the treats they got as they successfully got themselves up and down from downward dog were not “cicles”
the Art in Bloom exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Over 20 designers created floral arrangements to express in their art form what painters had expressed in oils or sculptors in metal and marble. Having just spent the morning watching a program on the Ukraine, we found our spirits lifted by the sheer amount of creativity demonstrated by the arrangements. Perhaps, we hoped, the human capacity for destruction is matched by the human capacity for creation.
As a gardener and a writer, I am fascinated by how different art forms can or cannot express the same idea. On Saturday evening we listened to the Milwaukee Symphony perform, among other works, Brahms’ “Variations on a Theme by Haydn.” Afterwards, I began to imagine how I might create a garden that would set out a theme in plantings and then express that theme through a series of variations. Viewing such a garden would not be the same experience as listening to the music because music moves while gardens stay in place, but I think it could be similar. But writing? Theme and variations, of course, but not at all the same as Brahms or a garden?
The most recent addition (2001) to the Milwaukee Art Museum was designed by Santiago Calatrava. My brother and sister-in-law’s apartment overlooks the museum and each morning they can watch the wings unfold and each evening they can watch the wings fold back together.
But perhaps the art form we most enjoyed was that of the visit itself. Good visits can just happen, but most are carefully constructed. They involve a balance of activity and rest, interaction and time apart, meals in and meals out, good lodging and good food. These elements then allow for the greatest of all gifts of the well-tempered visit – conversation. This conversation grows more precious with each passing year. I give thanks to the architects of our visit – Dan, Pat, Beth. They are right up there with Calatrava.
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