Lena Corwin: Finding Her Way Through Design
Artist Lena Corwin makes maps. Oh, it’s not all she does—Corwin is prodigiously talented and does everything from textile design to illustrations to teaching to writing books. And one of the books she published is simply called Maps and is a collection of Corwin’s illustrations of forty cities. From New York to Paris to Copenhagen to San Francisco—each map is a fantastical interpretation of a very specific place. Corwin herself is a California native who came to Brooklyn in 2005 after a stint in Manhattan. She tells us, “My boyfriend (now husband) and I had a great, but tiny, rent-stabilized apartment in the West Village. We loved it there but wanted a change… more space. We decided to look for a multi-unit building to buy and found a three family brownstone in Fort Greene.” As an artist, finding the right community to live and work in is of vital importance and, for Corwin, inspirations abound in Brooklyn’s arts scene. She says, “People here are really ambitious and hardworking—this is not a community of slackers. That energy can be contagious.” Although Corwin admits that, “there might be a move back to California in our future,” saying, “it will break my heart to leave Brooklyn,” we have no doubt that, even if she leaves, she will always be able to illustrate a singularly, art-filled life for her and her family, wherever she is.