Lisa Middleton map artist featured in documentary

Maps of the Mississippi

Who knew that a 72 mile section of the Mississippi River that flows through the Twin Cities is home to the Mississippi National River & Recreation Area (MNRRA) National Park Unit... the first and only national park along the Mississippi River?

And who knew that local map artist, Lisa Middleton, would see several of her historic maps featured on the big screen... again... in a new documentary to profile the national park unit?

The Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR.org) are on a mission to raise the profile of the first National Park on the Mississippi River. A new 30-minute documentary, titled "REBIRTH", narrated by MPR's Steven Seel is being released to celebrate the National Park Service Centennial. While many folks have spent a great deal of time along the Mississippi River, most are unaware of its national park status, or the story of citizen advocacy behind its creation. REBIRTH” will air on TPT, the Twin Cities public station, Sunday, May 8 and 15, with subsequent online release  

Many river lovers will immediately recognize that the film features historic hand-painted maps by La Crosse map artist, Lisa Middleton. Co-producer, John Kaul discovered Lisa Middleton’s historic maps in Naples, Florida.

Lisa Middleton map artist

“I knew immediately that Lisa Middleton's historic maps were exactly what I wanted for the documentary,” John Kaul, co-Producer of REBIRTH commented. “They are beautiful maps that make history POP. If every school child had access to these beautiful historic maps, history might become a lot more exciting.” 

"I may not be in the movies," Middleton observes, "but my map paintings are! It's fun to see what role they will play... one producer gave me 24 hours to Fed Ex a map in three versions.. each representing the deterioration of passing time. In the movie, the map represented a man's journey through life, and on one occasion it fluttered out of his hands while canoeing. He had to rescue it to save his dream."

Lisa Middleton will exhibit a large collection of historic, hand-painted Mississippi River, National park and Montana maps  at the  :
      Made Fair, Missoula MT ,   26th june
      Whitefish 4th of July Art Festival, Whitefish MT, July 1-3
      Hockaday Arts in the Park, Kalispell MT,   July 15-17
      Sweet Pea Festival of Arts, Bozeman MT,   August 5-7

"My whole career developed because a woman in Louisiana offered me her collection of 7 historic river maps," Lisa noted. "She hoped maybe I could 'do something' with them. I have since collected many more and will offer both original historic map paintings and prints for purchase during the exhibits. I've collected and painted some 130 historic and custom designed maps in the past few years. Most can be previewed online at www.greatriverarts.com  

\Both shows will feature historic maps of the Upper Midwest and many of my new custom-designed maps."

Here are other examples of Lisa Middleton's artistic maps: