Our Storied Landscape: Revealing the Brattleboro Words Trail

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Brattleboro artist Cynthia Parker-Houghton was commissioned to create a map as a companion piece to the Brattleboro Words Trail, which consists of audio-based tours of people and places significant to the history of words in the region. Choosing the imagery was challenging, and ultimately the landscape itself, with its mountains and rivers, became the uniting feature for the narratives, many drawn from books and newspapers, portraits and photographs, with more stories yet to discover and create.

The imagery for the map was created using sgraffito, a ceramic carving technique that creates a look similar to wood block or linoleum printing. In sgraffito, a layer of dark slip is carved through to reveal lighter clay underneath. Parker-Houghton has honed her skills with this technique as lead designer at Natalie Blake Studios, where she has created murals for public and private installations throughout the United States for more than a decade.

Parker-Houghton and her husband Rolf, a local writer and historian, have created numerous treasure maps in the area. Mapmaking runs in Parker-Houghton’s family, and she felt a kinship with her mapmaker grandfather as she worked on this project.

— The Brattleboro Words Project

BMAC extends its gratitude to Jen Austin and Lissa Weinmann for their leadership in bringing this exhibit to fruition.

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