44.9778°N / 93.2650°W · United States
Turn the sheet a few degrees and the centre falls square. Downtown is laid out not on the compass but on the Mississippi, which crosses the drawing on the diagonal; around it, the rest of the city keeps to north and south.
You choose the framing, the palette and the words of the caption. The work is drawn from real data, then printed to order in the workshop closest to you.
The Mississippi enters at the top and comes down on the diagonal to the middle of the sheet, where it bends east and leaves by the right-hand edge. On the way it passes a long green island, then a stretch where the water breaks into islets and pale shapes: that is the place of the falls. On both banks the streets are laid out square to the river, so downtown sits at an angle, its blocks pointing towards the water. Further out, to the south and in the corners, the grid swings back to the compass, and the two orientations meet along a ragged seam.
The falls themselves are not drawn: a map has no relief, and what you see is only the outline of the water, the islands and the works that tame the drop. The bridges, on the other hand, read clearly, packed close together around the falls, where the first two towns faced each other across the river. On the left, below the middle, the pond of Loring Park makes a small mark of water. The rail lines, as everywhere, are too pale to count.
Water here is a single river, narrow but long, crossing the sheet on the diagonal: give it a deep ink so the island and the broken water around the falls read clearly. Green runs along both banks in strips and covers the long island; choose a green distinct from the water, so that the river reads in two bands, water and riverbank. The tilt of downtown against the compass grid needs no colour at all: the streets carry it.
Portrait, the river coming down from the top and leaving by the right, the falls just above the middle. The centre sits slightly east of the engraved point to give the islands room. Pull back and more of the compass grid fills the sheet while the falls shrink to a scribble; come closer and the islets sharpen, but the seam between the two grids leaves the sheet.
The title, one line under it, the coordinates. On a grid that takes the river’s angle, the caption can take yours: the bank you lived on, the bridge you crossed, the year you came.
Sixteen inks, in the configurator’s order. It is not in the catalogue, but you will find it in the palette library, filed under its material.
Opens the colour workshop with these 16 inks in place: change one, keep the rest.
It will wait in your account, ready for any piece.
Franklin Steele’s settlement on the east bank was platted as the town of St Anthony: fifty-six blocks of ten lots each, framed by streets eighty feet wide. The grid was oriented to the Mississippi, its numbered streets parallel to the river and its named streets perpendicular to it. That is the angle of the east bank on the sheet.
On the west bank, a separate community, Minneapolis, recorded its own plat in 1855 and was incorporated the following year. That same year of 1855, the first bridge over the Mississippi linking Minneapolis and St Anthony was completed, at about the site of today’s Hennepin Avenue Bridge.
St Anthony merged with Minneapolis in 1872 and became its East Division. After the merger, its streets perpendicular to the river were given the names they carry today, as numbered avenues. The two grids, each set square to its own bank, have belonged to one city ever since.
Yes. The search covers the whole world, from a capital to a hamlet. For the Sky collection, any date works, past or future: the sky is calculated.
From 21 × 29.7 cm to 84.1 × 118.9 cm, that is A4 to A0, portrait or landscape depending on the material. Every size is shown with its price in the editor.
Four, from the barest to the most dressed.
Making depends on the edition: 1 to 3 working days for Fine Art paper and wooden hangers, 3 days for the poster and the mounted frame, 3 to 5 days for the framed canvas. Transit depends on the country:
| Delivered to | In transit | In total |
|---|---|---|
| European Union | 5 to 7 working days | 6 to 12 working days |
| United Kingdom | 2 to 3 working days | 3 to 8 working days |
| United States | 4 to 6 working days | 5 to 11 working days |
| Canada | National delivery | Given at dispatch |
| Australia | National delivery | Given at dispatch |
These are standard delivery times and remain indicative. For a set date, order two to three weeks ahead.
Digital editions are available immediately: the file of your piece can be downloaded from your account as soon as you order, and an email lets you know the moment it is ready.
Count the bridges you crossed to get home. The last one tells you which bank is yours, and which corner of this sheet to keep.
Compose my Minneapolis poster
