The Last Mapmaker, Opening July 13

If you want to travel to faraway places like the Caribbean Islands and the west coast of Ireland this summer, skip the plane tickets and head to Grovewood Gallery instead. This July, the art venue will open The Last Mapmaker, a curated collection of hand-painted maps by Michael Frances Reagan, a Weaverville cartographer and watercolorist who has been described as “the last mapmaker working in the hand-painted traditions of the old masters.” During his 50-year art career, Reagan has illustrated more than 2,000 maps for publications such as Smithsonian, National Geographic, Harper’s, The New Yorker, and Audubon. His work is also featured in the collection of the Map and Atlas Museum in La Jolla, California, and will eventually find a permanent home at The Library of Congress. “I’ve always tried to paint the beauty of the world’s oceans and rivers, mountains, and islands in the faraway places I’ve lived and visited,” the artist shares in a gallery statement, “but in the end, inevitably, it’s the innate beauty of watercolor flowing across the white paper that keeps me mesmerized.”