National Scenic Visitors Center / Earthwalk USA
Sharing the wonder of America’s diverse landscapes, instilling
the passion to explore and the will to protect
the passion to explore and the will to protect
2020 VisionHullo giant map aficionados and associates. Just to let you know our team is meeting online and plugging away at our project.
The world has hit ‘pause’ right now in many ways, but staying engaged with our creative endeavours is surely a useful direction. The current global crisis will proceed and, eventually (and hopefully sooner than later) lurch past its middle and reveal its demise. George Harrison revisited the classic refrain ‘All Things Must Pass’ in one of his brilliant compositions. Following his tuneful lead, we join everyone in looking with expectation for the unknown and the adverse to dissolve against a bright, new morning. The National Scenic Visitors Center team. Welcome Mr. WolfWe’d like to formally welcome a (relatively) new member of the NSVC team: Jonathan Barry Wolf.
Jonathan has already been graciously providing assistance to Executive Director Mary Ellen Snyder. He is keen to see the project move forward, and we’re equally happy to see his formidable skillset, experience, and academic credentials applied. Jonathan has been involved in community-engaged public arts and culture projects for the past five years. As a member of New York University’s Urban Democracy Lab and the Program Coordinator for Messiah College’s Center for Public Humanities, he directed oral history collections, public poetry workshops, documentary films, and art installations. Jonathan earned his M.A. in Public Humanities from NYU in 2019. Welcome Mr. Wolf! Mapping the New YearTwenty Twenty is here. Get ready to see the colors on this project come to life.
A Voice for the TrailsDoug Milne stands ready to narrate the NSVC’s first Geoshow –
Traversing the Native American Trails of Eastern Pennsylvania As the National Scenic Visitors Center continues ramping up for a spring 2020 Earthwalk Explorer installation and public preview, our first Geoshow has been produced. Thanks to the indefatigable efforts of Mary Ellen Snyder, Amy Hollander, Zicheng Huang, Soda Ruan, Solomon Snyder, Matt Walker and Sean Brandle, and featuring contributions from Lang Elliott and Paul Wallace, the show– Traversing the Native American Trails of Eastern Pennsylvania– is a wrap. The Geoshow will be projected onto a sample of the NSVC’s prototype walkable relief map, and tell the story of how some of Eastern Pennsylvania’s Native Americans developed their walking paths, and how history’s advance transformed the people, the paths, and the region. Many of the region’s present day main highway arteries are descendants of these paths. Some, fortunately, can still be walked. In the photo above, narrator Doug Milne applies his vocal talents to a script developed by Amy Hollander, from material based on Paul Wallace’s Indian Paths of Pennsylvania. Sean Brandle of Bethlehem, PA’s FabLab engineered the recording. Solomon Snyder and Matt Walker composed discerningly-wrought background music, while Zicheng Huang and Soda Ruan labored tenaciously over the map animations and titling. Matt Walker integrated the components to create the final Geoshow, which includes birdsong from Lang Elliott. Stay tuned to your nearest NSVC website as plans for the Earthwalk Explorer installation are complete! Exploring the NSVC ExplorerWe’ve been away (mapping!) for a while. Stay tuned for an update on all things Earthwalk Explorer, as this rapidly-progressing prototype transforms into an open-to-the-public exhibit early next year.
Below, NSVC Executive Director Mary Ellen Snyder contemplates (with her feet) the 2 x 2 ft. square that will be ‘ground zero’ for trialing Geoshow animations, walkability, aesthetics, and much more. Post navigation
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NSVC Imagine! video (click to view)
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