deep mapping wildness | Anna E. Orbovich

Through prints, drawings, cyanotypes, and time spent outdoors, deep mapping wildness traces landforms, trails, shadows and everything in between. This ongoing catalog of findings builds up in layers that can overlap and fade into one another. It is a collection of maps and imagery that lead nowhere physically, but rather aim to capture a moment spent in wildness.

Artist Bio:
As an avid outdoors-person, Orbovich’s time working and conducting research in wild places ranging from the Arctic to the Desert to Minnesota’s North Shore have vastly influenced the direction of her work. Drawing, printmaking and cyanotypes become a way to observe and respond to the wildness that she encounters and finds connections across landscapes.

In 2020, Orbovich received an Artist Initiative Grant in which she thru-hiked the Superior Hiking Trail (270 miles), documenting her observations through art. The project was then featured on PBS’ America Outdoors.

Orbovich earned her MFA from the University of MN (2019) and a BFA in printmaking and book arts from Maryland Institute College of Art (2012). Orbovich’s work has been exhibited locally at Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Franconia Sculpture Park, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Grand Marais Art Colony, and most recently a solo exhibition in Ely, MN (Aug. 2025). Additionally, Orbovich has been an artist in residence at In Cahoots, LaWayaka Current (Chile) and Gullkístan Art Center in Iceland.

Orbovich is currently located in St. Paul, MN where she teaches printmaking and cyanotype workshops centered around art and nature coexisting alongside working as a Website Designer and Curator for the project Climate Rendezvous! While her research comes in a variety of ways, at its core is the outdoors as she is always seeking out new ways to bring her studio practice outside.

Artist Statement:
I search for wildness. Wildness can be calm and vast. Wildness can also be intricate, challenging and overwhelmingly strong. Wildness is a distant journey and yet can also be found in our backyards, local parks and even via the weeds growing out of the sidewalk. I seek out the slow moments of wildness and the moments that humble me deeply as a way to develop connection and understanding of a place.

Drawing, printmaking and cyanotypes alongside my experiences working on trail maintenance crews, hiking and backpacking become a way to observe and respond to the wildness that I encounter. Drawings can be a blend of quickness, seasonal monitoring and meditation. Printmaking allows me to break down a landscape into simple shapes, textures, linework and overlay elements. Cyanotypes let me collaborate with nature, creating sun prints of found objects and waterways.

While my research comes in a variety of ways, at its core is the outdoors. This ongoing catalog of findings builds up in layers that can overlap and fade into one another. Tracing landforms, trails, shadows and everything in between; I create maps and imagery that lead nowhere physically, but rather aim to capture a moment spent in wildness.

The French Park Visitor Center is free to the public and open daily from 9 am - 5 pm.

Image: trails of moss covered boulders, etching and drawing, 16" x 20", 2025