The document discusses 'Expressions of Place', an interdisciplinary event series at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point aimed at celebrating culture and community through cartography and the arts. It highlights the collaborative efforts of various faculty, staff, and community members in exploring themes of place, mapping, and indigenous perspectives. The colloquium will feature a range of events including exhibitions, performances, and discussions, with a focus on honoring the Menominee people and facilitating creative dialogue around the concept of home and identity.

1. Expressions
of
Place:
an
interdisciplinary,
interactive
community
event
series
Diana K. B. Hoover
Professor of Graphic Design
Department of Art & Design, College of Fine Arts & Communication
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI, USA
North American Cartographic & Information Society Conference (NACIS)
Colorado Springs, CO, U.S.A.
October 2016
ABSTRACT
In the heart of Wisconsin, where the Menominee people have lived for many thousands of years, in a small city that
houses a medium-sized liberal arts university, some generous and visionary individuals, organizations, and corporations
join forces to celebrate culture and reinvigorate community. Fueled by entrepreneurial spirit and passion for the arts,
many of the creative collaborations bring together individuals representing diverse perspectives. One of these
undertakings is the upcoming event series, ‘Expressions of Place’ sponsored by the College of Fine Arts and
Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. During this talk I will present the genesis for this project, the
variety of arts and geography mash-ups in the lineup, some obstacles encountered as well as discoveries made while
organizing this compendium on mapping, sensing, living and expressing ‘Place’.
. . .I find myself humbled and I am energized by the extraordinary talks from people who are
championing mapmaking as a methodology and a cornerstone of pedagogy through
experimentation, collaboration, embrace of complexity and of failure as a path of true learning.
This talk falls at the end of the NACIS 2016 conference and it is about the future. To pick up on
one of Kirk Goldsberry’s, threads that, ‘there are no tidy borderlines or boundaries in
cartography’ and his call to action to extend the reach of mapmakers everywhere, I am interested
in finding ways to add my expertise in graphic design to the effort of expanding how we work
together to map stuff. . .
Introduction:
At my first NACIS conference last year in Minneapolis, I presented about artists who use maps in
their work and I was one of the lucky ones to participate in Matt Dooley’s Gunpowder workshop.
Not just the explosives sparked my imagination, though that was a blast, but also by the
profound creativity, passion and inclusiveness of the people that I met in this organization. This
talk is about an interdisciplinary colloquium I am facilitating on the ideas of place and mapping
that is a direct result of my NACIS experiences last year. I will present some specific inspirations
for the project, different events that are planned and some thoughts on the interdisciplinary
nature of cartography as a catalyst for collaboration.
Dedication:
For most of us the place we live both —is, and is not— our home. How do we represent ideas of
location, dislocation, borders, migration and home?
Where do we locate the borders of cultural awareness and ownership on the land?
Whose perspectives are privileged on a map?

2. How do celebrate those untidy borderlines between disciplines, cultures, and .com and .edu?
What can be gained by sharing divergent interpretations of place?
The images onscreen are of the iconic mural on my campus —a map in its own right— designed
and created by the late Dick Schneider, who taught ceramics for over 50 years. Dick worked to
incorporate technology, art and design as well as principles of social equality among the
symbolic forms he used in this 50ft x 150ft mural. He was a man who felt strongly about place and
labored to represent the sense of place in a multicultural framework, especially acknowledging
the native peoples who are of the area.
Prologue: A good place to Live
In the heart of this continent, the Menominee people have lived for many thousands of years, in a
region they call Wēskōhsek, —‘a good place to live’. There is, in Wēskōhsek, a place called
Pasīpahkīhnen — roughly translated into English means, ‘it juts out as land, or point of land’. 1
In 1836, the Menominee signed what is referred to as the Treaty of the Cedars, ceding huge
tracts of their homeland territories to the United States government. These lands were located
along and around multiple rivers in central and eastern Wisconsin. 2
Years after the 1836 treaty, a
man named George Stevens who habitually used this area to stop and stow his belongings on his
quests to develop lumbering opportunities, became its English namesake. Stevens Point is
known as ‘The Gateway to the Pineries’ because of the water routes he helped make accessible
for logging.
Forest management methods used by Europeans were and are much different than those of the
native tribes. As Patty Loew notes in her Indian Nations of Wisconsin, “The history and identity of
the Menominee people is rooted in the white pines and sugar maples of the western Great
Lakes. The forest sustained the tribe before Europeans arrived on the continent, and to this day
the forest continues to provide cultural and economic sustenance to the Menominee.” Loew
further states that, “The Menominee Forest, which has become a laboratory for sustainable
forestry is considered one of the most beautiful and healthy forests on earth.” 4
This is the place where I now live, defined by the Wisconsin River and the point of land that juts
into it. I have lived here for only 15 years. Though it happens that this is the longest time I have
personally stayed in any one place, my relatives and ancestors are not from here. I have kayaked
the rivers and ridden the bike trails and walked in the green spaces, but I know this place chiefly
from my frame of reference in academia and through the stories of others.
Inspirations:
My primary motivations for undertaking this project include an ongoing drive to study the
significance of place and a number of native and non-native individuals who embody place in
powerful ways. I was particularly moved by the following five people to bring this idea into reality.

3. Mike Hoffman is Menominee and Ottawa descendant and a fluent speaker and teacher of the
Menominee language. He is the cultural consultant and adviser for the Menominee Clans Story
on permanent display at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. After decades of painstaking
development Mike produced the Menominee Place Names Map of Wisconsin with cartographers
at the university. The web site for the interactive map is here:
https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/menominee-place-names-map/
Jessie Conaway is an activist and cartographer who during the map gallery at NACIS 2015
exhibited the large vinyl floor map from her work on the Bad River Water&Culture Maps Project.
She has an Environment and Resources Ph.D. with a minor in Cartography/GIS from the Nelson
Institute in Madison and has been working with the native tribes of the western Great Lakes for
several decades to promote wise and sustainable practices and policies for our natural resources.
Karen Ann Hoffman is a celebrated Oneida artist who’s exceptional Iroquois Raised Beadwork is
in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum. She is a prolific artist, enthusiastic teacher and
collaborator and a traditional storyteller. Karen has recently curated the regional exhibition, ‘In
Our Midst —Wisconsin’s Contemporary Native American Art’. The show features work by some
of Wisconsin’s most notable Native American Artists. Karen has also acted as intermediary
between the community and the campus and between the native and non-native participants in
this project.
Matt Groshek is a one of my colleague teaching Graphic Design at UW-Stevens Point and serves
as the Curator of Exhibits at our Museum of Natural History. He has been a Fellow at the
Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service directing the People of Rural Wisconsin project.
Matt has lived and taught in a number of places in the Midwest and recently moved back to live
on his family farm in Rudolf, Wisconsin.
Finally, Rhonda Sprague, the interim dean of the College of Fine Arts & Communication, was the
lynchpin in this whole thing, as she was the person who, after hearing about the fabulous
experiences I had in Minneapolis, planted the idea that would become the colloquium. Also, the
project funding is coming mainly from the college.
Project & Process:
At the start of the planning stage, I cast a wide net for interested faculty and staff from all over
campus and in the greater community. An email invitation went out to likely collaborators from
my own college in art, art history, arts management, dance, graphic design, music, storytelling,
theatre, video and film. In the other colleges and units I reached out to colleagues in cultural
anthropology, english, ethno botany, forestry, geography, geology, interior architecture and
sociology as well as our Museum of Natural History, our Native American Center and our Library.
From the greater community I contacted local artists, teachers and historians and our major arts
organization.

4. The initial planning meeting was a resounding success, not because everyone who had been
invited came, but because of the unique mix of voices and perspectives coming together. Natural
affiliations were discovered as we discussed our own work and the topic of place from many
viewpoints. This coming together was inspiring and people dispersed to continue building on
thematic threads. Notes from this gathering were distributed to provide continuity prior to the
next meeting. At the second meeting deeper conversations took place, collaborative concepts
for events were firmed up and the title for the colloquium was decided upon by consensus. The
work continues.
Some insights gained from the process: Developing the budget, the individual events and the
overall marketing requires a deft balancing act between open dialogue and firm decisions. It’s
experientially exciting to facilitate cross-pollination in big group meetings, but far more effective
to manage nitty-gritty work in smaller groups. Empowering individuals to create and execute.
Finally, delegate whenever feasible.
Scheduled Events:
The colloquium will unfold over a three-month period beginning in February. In total there will be
a dozen different events in this unique collaborative series.
Honoring the People—An opening event for ‘Expressions of Place’ will honor the longest
surviving residents of this place, the Menominee, as well as the other indigenous peoples in
Wisconsin. Special guests will be Mike and Karen Hoffman who will share their stories and
perspectives of place, home and land. Traditional storytelling needs to be conducted when the
earth is still frozen, so this event will happen in February.
Visual Art/Communication—An invitational exhibition featuring artists who use maps or mapping
in their work will be on view in the Noel Fine Arts Center. The art exhibition is serving as the
centerpiece for the colloquium and will provide a venue for receptions, artist talks and
presentations during the run of the show. The curatorial team of Matt Groshek and Leigh Wilcox,
our gallery director, are extending the exhibit beyond the gallery walls into several satellite
spaces to incorporate other disciplines and areas and emphasize a sense of place on campus.
Travel—Kathe Julin from Interior Architecture and Liz Fakasiz from the Division of Communication
are facilitating an exhibition of artwork by faculty produced while traveling or as a result of travels.
A panel discussion on transformation through visiting other places will happen in conjunction.
Dance—Michael Estanich will give a dance performance about migration, place and identity. The
dance, a reprise of a work he choreographed in graduate school, will be performed in the Noel
Fine Arts Center. Michael will give an artist talk after the performance.
Labyrinths—An exploration of built environments will include a presentation on transformational
spaces and feature a Labyrinth Walk. Katja Marquardt of Interior Architecture who is a trained
labyrinth facilitator, designer and builder will give the presentation.

5. Place making—Our regional arts organization, CREATE Portage County, is deeply invested in
Place making and creative community building opportunities. Greg Wright, the executive
director, will be facilitating a forum on place making. Networking and bridging the ‘town-gown’
divide are goals.
Video—Alex Ingersoll of the Division of Communication is hosting a Microcinema screening
entitled, ‘Encounters With Place’. The screening is taking place downtown in CRAETE Portage
County’s IDEA Center. A talkback is planned.
Community/Cultural Mapping—Tori Jennings of Sociology and Doug Miskowiak and Christine
Koeller of Geography & Geology will participate in a panel discussion on community mapping
projects. Tori has been working on a Hmong Walking and Activity Map and is the author of the
video project, the Middle Way. Doug Miskowiak has been involved in using story maps as
community building tools in Wisconsin. Christine will present about her work with students and
crowdsourcing information for mapping in our Schmeekle Nature Reserve.
Student Involvement—Student research presentations from an interdisciplinary course I will be
team-teaching with Keith Rice will be a part of the aforementioned event. Keith is the director of
the GIS center at UW-Stevens Point and he is a former president of NACIS. The course titled,
Representations of Place, will be cross-listed in our respective departments so students from Art
& Design and Geography & Geology will be working together to create story maps about aspects
of the place we live. The student projects will be presented at the end of the class and during an
event in the colloquium.
Indigenous Mapping—Near the end of the colloquium a panel presentation on Indigenous
Mapping is planned. Featured speakers will include Ray Reser, a paleo-archeologist and the
director of the UW-Stevens Point Museum of Natural History, who will talk on his years in
Australia working with the tribal elders to protect sacred land. Jessie Conaway and tribal elders
from the Bad River Ojibway reservation will discuss their work using maps to aid efforts on
education about the land. Mike Hoffman will lead a presentation on the Menominee Clans Story
and his work on the Menominee Place names Map of Wisconsin.
Conclusion:
We are all mapmakers and problem solvers, interested in collaborative engagement. The
combination of unique viewpoints and diverse disciplines makes for a dynamic opportunity to
grow through synthesis.
Planning for the colloquium continues and the results will be forthcoming. It is my fervent hope
that this example can become a conduit for additional creative collaborations and spark more
conversations about mapping, ‘home’ and connection to the land.

6. References
1. Hoffman,
Mike.
The
Menominee
Clans
Story,
UW-­‐Stevens
Point
Library,
Board
of
Regents
of
the
University
of
Wisconsin.
Website
text
by
Dr.
David
Wrone.
Website
drawings
and
photographs
by
Richard
J.
Frechette.
URL:
http://www4.uwsp.edu/museum/menomineeclans/places/
2. Indian
Affairs:
Laws
And
Treaties,
Vol.
II,
Treaties,
Compiled
and
edited
by
Charles
J.
Kappler,
Washington
:
Government
Printing
Office,
1904.
Produced
by
the
Oklahoma
State
University
Library
URL:
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/
3. Loew,
Patty,
Indian
Nations
of
Wisconsin:
Histories
of
Endurance
and
Renewal,
Wisconsin
Historical
Society
Press,
2001,
ppg.
24,
38-­‐9.
4. Wisconsin
Historical
Society,
‘Stevens
Point,
Wisconsin–
A
Brief
History’,
[Source:
WHS
Library-­‐Archives
Staff,
2009];
URL:
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:42949638284294963805&dsRecordDetails=R:CS2382
My contacts with thoughtful people of many nations and the creative individuals