Work in Progress:  Star Maps for Beginners © 2025-26 Dale Kistemaker

Digital panoramic photographs, archival pigment ink on rag paper, Dimensions variable.

While cleaning my studio, I came across a tangled set of aging string lights stored in a translucent storage container. On impulse, I placed the twisted and coiled string lights onto the easel that I had constructed for panoramic photographs. When the string of lights was plugged in, only a few bulbs illuminated. The resulting images suggested multilayered associations such as vintage scientific molecular models or stars in the night sky. The uneven distribution of light due to the failed bulbs introduced an emotional register that resisted direct representation.

The project’s title is drawn from a decades-old astronomy book that is still in my library. Prints produced at larger scales of 32"x 40" and 40”x60” were created during a 2026 residency at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. Printing at these larger dimensions produced images of the lights and wires at a one-to-one scale. While the images are successful at smaller sizes, the increased scale intensifies their spatial and perceptual presence, reinforcing the tension between intimacy and distance that underlies the work.

9.2.25 Star Maps 2b, archival pigment ink on rag paper. Dimensions variable, 23” x 28.75”, 32” x 40”