Piedmont, Idaho. Where Interstates 90 and 13 meet
a work from 2021 on 2 14x17” panels. This is Piedmont, ID at the intersection of interstate 90 and Interstate 13. I made up I-13 as well, there is none in reality either.
I started with a space in the US without any other major cities nearby (the location is 100 miles W-SW of present day Spokane WA). Took a few liberties in moving mountains and widening the Pend d’Oreille (prounced “ponderay”) river. The name Piedmont means foothills in French, and the city is at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains (Bitteroot Range) in the beautiful country near Glacier National Park on the Montana border.
The blunt geographic name chosen was meant to evoke other American cities like Boise (from boisé or “woodland” in French) and Detroit (“détroit” or strait in French). There is a ton of French influence in names of northern Idaho, Fur traders from Quebec were the earliest white explorers so they chose names like pend d’Oreille (“hangs from ears” ) or Nez Percé (pierced nose) to describe the people and places.
Piedmont is a typical 2 million person US city with too many freeways and urban decay. I drew on Portland OR to some extent for inspiration, as well as parts of Seattle and Detroit. An elevated freeway by the riverside is now a linear park, but this city bears the scars of Robert Moses and other urban planners of the mid 20th c.
The imaginary I-13 links Reno NV to Calgary AB. running between actual US highways 93 and 95, it is signed as the Kootenai Turnpike between Boise and the Canadian border and the Black Rock highway between Reno and Boise.
The history of Piedmont’s settlement goes back to the voyage of Lewis and Clark- The founder being none other than Toussaint Charbonneau (husband to Sacagawea) who established a trading post on the shores of lake Waneta. The streets of the old town or Vieux Carrée are mostly French in honour of the heritage. I named a main road after Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé and there are many other places/people named for indigenous nations on the NW.
The city needs its suburb, thus I drew a suburban panel (South Piedmont and Township) which is just southwest of the main city anchored around the Sacajawea Int’l Airport. It is chaotic and too busy with text, names, places and many businesses. It depicts the crass repetitiveness of suburbia and pays hommage to many personal voyages spent exploring suburbs in various parts of the US (particularly in the South and Midwest).
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