Piled Up is made by Jackie Partridge. I created this artwork during my Master of Fine Arts at Concordia University. To learn more about the artwork, Piled Up keep reading!
Piled Up BY Jackie Partridge
What do we carry with us, even when we think we’ve left something behind?
In Piled Up, I explore the weight of memory, travel, and place using a material most of us associate with planning, movement, and orientation: the map.
About Piled Up:
Atlas cut-outs, plywood, shelf-10.5”x 8”, floor piece- 4’x 2.5’, 2018
Piled Up uses the cut-outs from What Is and What Was to create a hill of houses that spills over onto the floor.
Slicing Through Geography to Tell a Story
This work was created using hand-cut pages from an old atlas. Each piece of paper—once a road, a river, a contour line—is carefully layered and collaged into a sculptural form that suggests both accumulation and fragility.
The piece is tactile and textural, built up like strata, like the stories we gather as we move through the world. It’s a meditation on how locations shape identity—and how we mentally and emotionally “pile up” the places we’ve been.
Why Maps?
Maps are a material I return to often in my work. They’re beautiful in their own right, with delicate lines, typography, and colours—but they’re also loaded with meaning.
We rely on maps to tell us where we are, yet they often feel out of date, incomplete, or disconnected from the lived experience of place. By cutting and rearranging them, I’m reconfiguring geography into something more intuitive, personal, and emotional.
The Form of a Stack, The Feeling of a Memory
The composition of Piled Up—layered, uneven, slightly precarious—mirrors how we store memories. It’s not linear. It’s a build-up of fragments, connections, impressions.
There’s a quiet tension in the form. It’s a pile, but it could also be a monument, a map of experience, or even a burden. I wanted the piece to feel both grounded and uncertain, like a journey without a clear destination.
A Piece Rooted in Time and Place
Whether you’re a traveller, a collector of stories, or someone who feels deeply tied to home, Piled Up invites you to reflect on how we hold onto places—and how places hold onto us.
The piece fits beautifully in a space that invites reflection: a study, hallway, cottage, or living room. It’s part visual poetry, part cartographic sculpture.
To see more of my contemporary artwork -click on the button below!
You Deserve to Live in a Home You Love… right down to those little details!
You have spent hours on Pinterest trying to find the right art for your home. That will not only tie the room together but reflect your own original style. You’re tired of looking EVERYWHERE and don’t want to settle. Sure... there’s printed art at Walmart but you wanted something more one-of-a-kind.
It’s time to walk into your home feeling proud of the space you have created.
A home you love and enjoy spending your time in.
Did you know that looking at art you love on a daily basis is said to boost your mood?
Introducing… Handmade Paper Art
Made with recycled road maps this piece of handmade paper art is complete with soft deckled edges. Each artwork is original and handcrafted. Every piece from this limited series is unique as different portions of the maps collect and overlap to create a new sheet of paper.
The neutral and minimal design is the perfect addition to any room and complements travel photos or other minimal artworks on a wall or shelf! This artwork would look wonderful hanging in a white or wooden frame in a bedroom or living room.
What’s Included?
-original art made by artist Jackie Partridge
-certificate of authenticity signed by the artist as a family keepsake
-artwork ships safely to prevent bending
-artwork ships unframed to allow you to choose a frame to suit your design style
-available in two sizes: round -8.25” wide and rectangle- 8.5’’ x 11”
-free standard shipping in Canada
This is a limited series!
This would make a unique gift for a travel lover or for a paper wedding anniversary.