About the Artist

Biography of the Artist
Alex is an artist and cartographer who grew up in the scenic town of Wollongong. He has a passion for illustrating detailed and visually stunning maps and he adores his hometown, where the mountains  meet the sea.
When Alex isn’t sketching breathtaking landscapes, he is exploring it while surfing, rock climbing, skating, or walking his loyal canine companion, Alfie.

 

The Beginnings

Alex has always had a strong passion for precision and accuracy in everything he does. Even as a child, he would spend hours meticulously arranging his collection of Derwent pencils, placing each one in the perfect spot according to its colour and position in the set. Seeing each pencil lined up and the colours transitioning seamlessly brought him as much joy as drawing did.

This attention to detail has carried over into all aspects of Alex's life, including his career. After obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Geography in 2012 he discovered a love for digital mapmaking and has been involved in the field for over a decade.  One of the highlights of his education was mapping coral reefs for his Honours project, which allowed him to combine his appreciation for the beauty of the natural world with his tech skills.

In 2017, Alex started exploring the intersection of art and science in his spare time, creating unique maps that explored Australian waterways or elevation in a visually stunning way.

His obsession with the world of art and science only grew from there.

Honing the craft

In 2019, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought much of Australia to a standstill, Alex spent his time finding a new way to merge science and art. His next project was to sculpt a perfectly spherical world globe out of plaster with hand-made tools, before painting it in water colour. He became obsessed with the process, spending months trialling different approaches, before constructing a wooden frame with a piece of perspex attached so that he could shape plaster into a spherical edge. He was enthralled by the challenge of such a highly technical feat.

 After completing the globe, Alex realised how much he enjoyed working on a tactile level with pencils, paints, markers, and plaster to create unique and tangible pieces of art. He decided to explore different mediums and began sketching landscapes and buildings. Without a Visual Arts Background, Alex turned to resources like YouTube videos and art books to learn new techniques. People really enjoyed the buildings he drew and asked him to create more of their favourite places, such as their family home or a place they used to visit as a child.

Alex received numerous requests for sketches and so he decided to offer his services to the whole community. His idea was to create a large-scale, bird's-eye maps of Wollongong, depicting everyone’s favourite places to visit. The blank piece of paper awaited him! 

What an exciting project ahead. 

You can read on about the process of making the map here, or pre-order your prints here.