GNSI DC: November 2001 Meeting Report-
Jaime Quintero: Cartographic Artist
By Britt Griswold
The DC chapter meeting last night was a wonderful treat. Jaime Quintero brought numerous examples of his original artwork, with some very impressive/colorful geographical relief maps, and a short video that presented a travel log of his South American experiences as seen through his art and photography. He discussed his career for the past 20 years which has covered a wide range of work, but always seems to revolve around educating the public about geography and cultures.
Jaime started out as a cartographer/engineer and developed his impressive artistic skills mostly on his own. Jaime worked for the National Geographic at the beginning of the 1980's. After finishing several massive 3D geography projects, in 1984 he decided to take his skills back to South America, a wide open field for his particular talents. The last 17 years have seen him moving around South America doing all sorts of map renderings, illustration work, and teaching. Some of these project have led to presentations to governmental leaders of the countries in which he worked. He became a US citizen 13 years ago, and has finally decided to make the Northern Virginia/DC area his home base. He owns a company that is creating artwork for the South American educational market, and is collaborating with photographers and writers. This includes more than just map products. He showed us a large collection of color work he generated for a weekly newspaper. He has a heavy work load and is looking for illustrators to work with him on these projects.
Jaime's extended stay in South America has left him outside the general move in cartography toward digital rendering of maps. While he does use mapping data available in digital form as a basis for his work, he still works his final art the traditional way, hand rendered watercolor on illustration board. He hopes now that he is near the map creation capital of the world (DC) that he will be able to dive into the new technologies and come up with a blend of the digital and traditional for his company's needs.
Jaime also is hoping to find the venues, resources, time and talent to oversee creations of the large scale educational murals and geographic models that have really been his first love. He believes strongly in the Guild's mission of education, and after being out of touch for so many years is rejoining the Guild and becoming a DC chapter member.
If you would like to find out more from Jaime Quintro directly:
Jaime Quintero
Geographic Art- Illustrations
7941 Donegal Lane
Springfield, VA 22153
(703) 440-0027
jquinterorussi@hotmail.com