Maze of the Week #76 - Northgate Shopping Center Sign Maze

Maze of the Week #76 takes us from Aurora, Illinois and a shopping center sign. This is a great old time looking sign that I found that I loved so I made it into a maze. You can find it near the road on Route 31 in front of the shopping center. This begins a mini 3 part series of mazes of signs in the state of Illinois.

Photo: Check out a few different photos on Flickr, and this other photo. Or my favorite view from Google Maps !

The Maze: Bottom to top solve. Full color. Relatively easy maze.

Northgate Shopping Center Sign Maze

I hope you enjoy the maze. Download is available on the homepage. Check out my YouTube channel !

Coming next week:

An animal maze.

15 Unique Types of Art You Need to See to Believe

Every once in awhile these forms of art will go viral on a social media site, then fade and come back a few years later on a new platform and go through the news cycle again. While you may have come across some of these, I guarantee there will be a few new forms of art that will amaze you !

15 Unique Types of Art

• Human Flowers Art

Human Flowers is a series of photomosaics created by artist and photographer Cecelia Webber. The series features real naked human bodies arranged to resemble plants and flowers. In her own words - “I use the human body to create natural imagery, highlighting humanity’s inseparability from nature.”

• Reverse Graffiti Art

Reverse graffiti is a form of street art where artists create images on walls or other surfaces by removing dirt from a surface. It is also known as clean tagging, dust tagging, grime writing, clean graffiti, green graffiti, or clean advertising. This method involves cleaning specific areas of a dirty surface, creating art through the contrast of polished areas and grime. It is a temporary or semi-permanent form of art that is environmentally friendly and thought-provoking.

• Dirty Car Art

  Dirty car art is a unique form of art that involves creating drawings or paintings on dirty car windows. Texas-based artist Scott Wade is one of the most well-known dirty car artists, and his work has been featured in various media outlets. He uses the dirt and dust on car windows as a canvas to create detailed and intricate designs. Other artists, such as Nikita Golubev from Russia, have also gained attention for their dirty car art. This form of art is a creative way to turn something that is typically seen as a nuisance (dirty car windows) into something beautiful and interesting.

• Light Painting Art

Light painting is a photographic technique that involves moving a light source while taking a long-exposure photograph. This can be used to illuminate a subject or space, or to create light art by shining light at the camera to 'draw'. To do light painting, you need to use a long exposure to capture the path of a moving light source. Light painting can imitate characteristics of traditional painting, and can be achieved by moving, adding or removing lights or subjects during or between exposures. It is a fun and creative way to experiment with photography and create spectacular images.

• Banana Bruising Art

Banana bruising art is a form of art created by bruising the skin of bananas to create intricate designs and patterns. The art is created by oxidization, which occurs as the enzymes in the cells of the banana are released and interact with oxygen. Anna Chojnicka, a London-based artist, has created about 400 works of art using this technique

• Alfombras de Asserin

Alfombras de Aserrin, also known as sawdust carpets, are a 400-year-old Guatemalan tradition where one or more layers of colored sawdust, flowers, palm leaves, and other materials are laid on the ground as decoration. This tradition is a sign of faith in God, devotion to Jesus, and love of tradition. The carpets are typically made before Easter and are a way for Guatemalans to decorate their streets. The art of making Alfombras de Aserrin can be learned and is a way to create something visually interesting and environmentally friendly.

• Sand Painting Art

Sand painting is an art form that involves pouring colored sand or powdered pigments onto a surface to create stylized, symbolic pictures. It is a traditional art form of the Navajo people, and the figures in sand paintings are symbolic representations meant to tell a story in Navajo mythology. Sand paintings are also called dry paintings and are used in curing ceremonies in Navajo culture. You can see a gallery of sand art here.

• Sidewalk Chalk Art

Sidewalk chalk artwork is a form of temporary art created on sidewalks or pavement using chalk. It can range from simple drawings to intricate 3D designs that appear to pop off the ground. Some of the most talented sidewalk chalk artists in the world include Edgar Mueller, Julian Beever, Kurt Wenner, and Manfred Stader.

• Land Art /Earth Art

Land art, also known as Earth art or Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. It involves creating art directly in or on the natural landscape, often using natural materials such as rocks, soil, and plants. The movement was part of the wider conceptual art movement of the time. Land art is often documented through photographs and maps, which can be exhibited in galleries. The movement was pioneered by a group of artists who sought to create art that was not confined to traditional art spaces and that engaged with environmental and social issues. Some of the best known artists are Walter De Maria, Robert Smithson, and Dennis Oppenheim.

• Body Painting Art

Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin, using actual face and body paints to draw and paint over the skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks. It is a universal art form that connects people and artists together. Body painting has a rich cultural heritage and has been practiced in many different cultures throughout history.

• Ice Sculpture Art

Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Ice sculptures can be abstract or realistic, and can be functional or purely decorative. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because of their limited lifetime. Sculpting ice presents a number of difficulties due to the variability and volatility of the material. Ice may be sculpted in a wide range of temperatures and the characteristics of the ice will change according to its temperature as well as the surrounding temperatures. Ice sculpture is traditionally taught in culinary schools using textbooks such as Ice Sculpting the Modern Way and Ice Carving Made Easy. If you want to plan a trip there are ice sculpting events all over the world, including in The International Ice Sculpture Festival in Latvia, the International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in Harbin, China, and the World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska.

• Found Object Art

Found object art is a type of art created from undisguised, often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made. These objects are often utilitarian, manufactured, or naturally occurring, and were not originally designed for an artistic purpose. Found object art can include sculpture, as artists use objects they come across in everyday life to create three-dimensional pieces of art. Some well known artists in this field are Bernard Williams, Tony Cragg and Sarah Lucas.

• Maze Art
  I had to include it. You are on a website dedicated to maze art ! It beat out Giant Roadside attractions by the slimmest of margins. I will include a video for both below. Maze art refers to artwork that features mazes or is created using maze-like patterns. This can include paintings, drawings, and even video games. My favorite maze artists are K Lars Lohn and Sean C Jackson.

• Rice Field Art

So there is a man in Thailand, Thunyapong Jaikum, who makes art of cats using rice fields. I will repeat that and bold it so I believe it, a man who makes cat art using rice fields. The field is located in Chiang Rai, Thailand which is a place you have heard of before (the soccer team in the cave). And now for the article from the Bangkok Post about our artistic rice farmer.

• Single Line Drawings

  It will not surprise you that I am a big fan of single line drawings. If you have never seen one, it a drawing made by putting your pen/pencil/other on the paper/screen and not picking it up until the drawing is complete. This makes for a very unique look to the artwork. The most complex have a lot of crossover lines, but a few of them, a unique few are single line drawings WITH NO CROSSOVER POINTS, making them technically meandering labyrinths ! How about some Star Wars ? By Sam Hallows. C3PO, and many more you can see here on this trend site !

As promised…Giant Roadside attractions. Art ?

Attribution:

Blog posts feature image “Dirty Car Art” from John M. P. Knox on flickr.

What my dream Maze Museum would look like

I am a big fan of museums. I grew up near the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and part of the year I live near the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. When I visit a new city I make sure to visit the all the oddball museums in addition to the typical art museums. Cleveland has a wonderful (and free) Art Museum. As far as oddball museums I have visited, if you are ever in Zagreb, Croatia visit the Museum of Broken Relationships.

Because I maze a lot of buildings, a few museums have made their way onto this site in maze form. Here are the museums I have mazed:

Rock n Roll HOF

The Louvre

The University of Alaska Museum of the North

National Center For Civil and Human Rights

Museo Soumaya

Plus I have 3 coming in the future !

Purpose of this post

Today I want to discuss a dream of mine, the creation of a maze museum. I have thought about this museum a lot and hope that some day it can become a reality. I have actually done a bit of research on creating one, and the cost of doing so is enormous. So, instead I am going to put my vision on paper to flush out the ideas.

Why create a maze museum

A maze museum would be an excellent visit. I will get into the vision I have below for the complex, but would you be interested in solving a hedge maze with friends ? What about solving timed mazes ? Seeing maze art ? I think this would be fun (I am biased), and as far as I can tell no museum exists today. Let’s look at some interesting museums around the world…if these subjects have museums, then I believe mazes can also.

The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum - Osaka, Japan

Derwent Pencil Museum - Cumbria, England

Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum - Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Iceland Phallological Museum - Reykjavik, Iceland

Sulabh International Museum of Toilets - New Delhi, India

National Poo Museum - Isle of Wight, England

Fill in your own commentary, especially on those last 3. Can you know that these museums exist and not bring them up in conversation ? I want to call someone right now just to discuss these 6 and I found even more interesting museums I did not list !! Museums for everyone !

SIMILAR maze museums CONCEPTS

There are a few places that have inspired me and I believe some of them could easily house a maze museum on their property. Let’s look at some of the places that have inspired me and why:

• Loučeň Castle - Nymburk, Czechia. Not a castle I had heard of when I was visiting Czechia but I wish I had done more research because this castle has outstanding grounds ! What makes the grounds so special ? Well they feature 12 different garden labyrinths ! I use the word loosely as it is a combination of mazes and labyrinths. Here is the full list of garden mazes on the grounds: Royal labyrinth; Letter maze; Digital labyrinth; Sandstone maze; String maze; Stone labyrinth; Stockade labyrinth; Paved maze; Yew tree labyrinth; Grass maze; Light maze and the Box tree labyrinth. That seems like a full day or being lost to me ! The website does not share many pictures of them, but if you search on Google Maps (Zámek Loučeň) you can see a few on the satellite imagery view! Here is one I found:

Photo From www.czechcentres.czdd

• Dole Plantation - Wahiawa, Hawaii. Known for it enormous Garden Maze, made from thousands of different native plants, the maze features a pineapple in the center ! Not the largest maze in the world (anymore), but close !

Flickr Dole Plantation: The Maze

• Evionnaz Adventure Labyrinth - Evionnaz, Switzerland. A maze that has games and obstacles spread throughout to make it more fun and challenging ! It is like a mini amusement park focused on the hedge maze ! The other activities on site make it a great place to take the family ! And the location is in a valley between some beautiful Swiss Mountains !

from website of Evionnaz Adventure Labyrinth

• Every art museum, but especially the modern art museums. You are on a website where I feature new maze art each and every Monday. There are dozens of other maze artists around the world, yet when I do a search for “Maze Art” this is what I find (not a lot of maze art, but some).

• Museo Laberinto - It has the name correct ! Located in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, this museum is an interactive science, art and technology museum perfect for kids and young adults. An it does contain a very cool outdoor maze made of cacti !

Museo Laberinto cacti

• And various other maze attractions around the world, from the hedge mazes and the labyrinths in churches around Europe to the mirror mazes in fun houses.

Possible museum grounds

The grounds feature a main building, designed by Adrian Fisher. Check out his website for some of the maze buildings he has designed! The internal structure of the building is mazelike, but not in a way that is meant to get you lost, but rather to get you in the frame of mind to experience the museum properly. There will be a few mazes indoors, but most will be outdoors.

Sections in the main building of the museum include:

• History of Labyrinths and Mazes - showing how common they are around the world and in different cultures.

  • This includes re-creations of famous mazes and labyrinths like the Chartres Labyrinth in France and the Pompeii House of Labyrinth.

  • Modern maze usage - including funhouses and haunted houses. Includes a medium sized mirror maze to walk through.

• Mazes in Movies - I have reviews for over 70 movies that feature labyrinths and mazes in the movie. This can be explored in a short film speaking about their place in movies. Includes a screening room.

• Maze Art - My favorite part and the main section of the museum. Featuring maze artists from all over the world. For me this is the focus (maybe not for visitors).

• The Blind Maze - a short maze in a completely blacked out room that is solved by guiding yourself by touch through the maze without your use of sight !

• Indoor Kids Maze - with short walls so parents can see the children as they traverse the maze. Also needed for rainy days when outdoor mazes are less desirable to walk.

• Laser Maze Challenge - Do your best impression of Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie Entrapment. Can you get through the maze without setting off the alarm ?

• Interactive zone of tables and chairs where you can design your own maze or solve the mazes provided. Also maze games like the tilted ball maze are available, which are also for sale in the….

• Gift Shop - it’s a museum. Selling maze art, maze books, maze games, etc.

• A maze or labyrinth on the roof !

I used Starryai to generate a few images of what the museum may look like ! The final image is from Stable Diffusion.

The Museum Grounds:

The grounds surround the main building and feature a variety of different mazes and labyrinths to walk/solve. Each has an explanation. Here are the featured mazes:

• Classical Labyrinth - Possibly a very large one...maybe even the largest in the world.

• Circular Labyrinth - Medium sized and used for meditation

• Square Labyrinth - Might as well.

• Stone Labyrinth - Classical shape.

• Hedge Maze - This will take awhile to grow but will be worth it. Center will lead to a central tower. The tower allows you to overlook all the grounds and see the labyrinths and mazes from above !!

• Color maze - a tile maze where you move based on rules to solve it. Appropriate for most ages.

• Arrow Maze - could also be inside. Solved by walking on the tiles.

• Tile Maze or Labyrinth - a maze/labyrinth made from tiles that can be walked on to solve/meditate

• Wooden Panel Maze - this maze is able to change daily with a few moveable wooden doors giving it flexibility.

• Water Maze - Water shoots into the air to create “walls”. You can cheat the maze but you will get wet !!! Center goal is a large fountain.

• Pipe Maze !!! - One of my favorite mazes that I make is the pipe maze. I think this can be done in real life. Imagine a place where you stand and choose one of 10 interconnected pipe handles with 2 spouts. You look at the pipes and try to figure out which handle leads to the goal. The other 9 all turn on the spout above your head !!!

I used Stable Diffusion and Starryai to create some images of what it might look like

The grounds for this museum are quite large and take quite a bit of daily groundskeeping work. By my count we have 11 outdoor mazes or labyrinths and 5 indoor (includes the walkable Chartres replica). We have many physical and mental challenges, things to learn and beautiful things to look at. We have indoor and outdoor zones that are both interactive. That makes a nice museum.

Things to be determined:

Location. Near or in a large or medium city that attracts tourists. There is not a specific location that screams “put it here” to me. As I mentioned above an existing site could be expanded to add a museum to the grounds. That will be the most viable to get the full vision created.

POSSIBLE museum map

Here is a hypothetical map of the Museum: Mazes are not actual designs but only placeholders. I did not show the roof which ideally contains a labyrinth.

I don’t know if I will be able to make this happen. But maybe someday I can open an art gallery and feature all the great maze artists. If there is an idea I want taken from me and done - take this one !!! I will gladly donate some artwork and will be a frequent visitor.

More posts you may like:

The 10 Most Famous Labyrinths from Around the World

Discovering 7 of the World's Most Interesting Mazes

What I learned using AI to make maze art

Maze of the Week #75 - Peter B Lewis Building Maze

Maze of the Week #75 takes us to the city of Cleveland, Ohio and the campus of Case Western Reserve University for a maze of the Peter B Lewis Building. The building houses the Weatherhead School of Management, opened in 2002 and was designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry. You can learn more about the building on the university website and also the historical page of the city.

YouTube video of the building:

Photo: Taken by my friend Heidi !!

Peter B Lewis Building

The Maze: I went back and forth of the use or non-use of shadows with this maze many times. I found that in order to show the true unique shape of the building I needed to do the shadowing as best I could, otherwise the structure looked flat to me. I hope you like it ! Also I did the maze with a paper ratio that is longer than normal.

Peter B Miller Building Maze

I hope you enjoy the maze. Download is available on the homepage. Also you can watch the making of the maze on my YouTube channel !

Coming next week:

A sign maze.