From The Map as Art: Nadler, a visual artist and illustrator comfortable working in many styles, is amused by the cartoonish images that result when he asks friends to draw maps of places near and far. The sole rule: no cheating by peeking at a map before or while drawing. Nadler created his US map from a pile of cut wire that accumulated during a soldering project.

From The Map as Art: New States shows new maps that artist Rodriguez creates to show the fluidity of borders. He cheerfully reconsiders geographic and cultural boundaries, so that, for example, Sun City, Virginia Beach, and Iditarod share a coastline on an island in the archipelago of New Hampshire. He is remapping the entire United States, with five additions: Hollywood, Monopoly, the Internet, Disneyworld, and Territory State, which combines portions of Samoa, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.

From The Map as Art: In 1949 Israeli military commander Moshe Dayan drew a green pencil line on a map, establishing armistice lines between Israel and the West Bank. The Green Line looms large in the region's psyche: when photographer Biaussat used green ribbon and balls to take pictures of the border, people reacted to the shade of green he chose. The color, like the notion of the border, is a subjective construct. He writes, "this project intends to communicate, with a smile, a sense of absurdity when envisaging the likelihood of establishing borders in this landscape, if such a thing is possible at all."

From The Map as Art: Reynolds used data compiled by London Police to create a map where the highest mountains represent areas with the most violent crime. The terrain of danger associated with urban living is translated into a metaphor of a mountaineering expedition, featuring feats of endurance; safer neighborhoods enjoy a more pastoral existence.