Lesson video

Hi, I am Miss Miah.

And in this lesson, we're going to be looking at how maps can be a kind of art.

Maps don't just have to show roads and buildings.

They can be imaginative or symbolic.

Artists often think about special places and journeys from their own lives when they make their maps.

I can't wait to see the maps you design today.

Let's get started.

In today's lesson, you'll be able to create a personal map sketch.

Your keywords are on the screen now, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Ready? Journey.

Symbol.

Memory.

Fantastic.

Let's find out what these words mean.

Journey: when you go from one place to another.

Symbol: a mark or character used to represent an idea, object, or relationship.

Memory: something you remember from the past.

Let's move on.

We have two lesson cycles today.

Our first lesson cycle is to do with maps as art, and then we're going to move on to creating a personal map sketch.

Are you ready? Let's get started.

Ooh, have a look at these two maps.

What are the differences between them? Have a think.

Now, Jacob says, "The first map shows London's landmarks, streets, and roads." Aisha says, "The second map shows different symbols and maybe someone's interests." Is that what you said? Now, there are different types of maps in art and design, including realistic maps.

Now, these maps look like a real place, including roads, rivers, and landmarks.

They're designed neatly, but may use fun colours and drawings.

Personal and journey maps are a different type of map that are used in art and design as well.

Now, these maps show places that are important to the artist.

They are designed with symbols to show meaning.

They show a path or trip the artist took.

These maps can show lines, arrows, footprints, and things seen on the way.

Imaginative maps.

Now, these are made up of places from an artist's imagination or dreams. They're designed with creative shapes, patterns, and magical details.

Over to you.

Personal and journey maps show: Is it A, symbols for meaning? B, a real place? Or C, made-up places from an artist's imagination or dreams? What do you think? You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So, what did you get? If you got A, you are correct.

Personal and journey maps show symbols for meaning.

Let's move on.

Artists Frank Bowling, Faith Ringgold, and Arpita Singh are examples of artists that create art maps.

So, let's learn about Frank Bowling and his use of maps.

Bowling uses world map shapes in his paintings.

He drips, pours, and splashes paint to show movement.

Faith Ringgold.

Ringgold represents important places in a child's life.

She uses pictures, stories, and feelings to show what the places mean to her.

And lastly, Arpita Singh creates map shapes, roads, houses, rivers, and labels in her art.

They are often mixed up, scattered, or layered.

Aisha is thinking about places that are special to her and creates a mind map to explore ideas.

She writes down: Grandmother's home, my home, London, stargazing in different places, camping with my family in Wales, Malaysia.

Now, Aisha wants to draw a personal journey map based on her important places.

Hmm, I wonder how she's going to do this.

Aisha says, "Some of these places are really big.

I don't know how to fit them all onto my map." Hmm? What can Aisha do? Aisha is remembering what she knows about symbols.

Aisha says, "I can represent a place or experience with a symbol." Many artists use symbols in their artwork to tell a story, share ideas, and share their own experiences.

To turn an important place or memory into a symbol, you can close your eyes and imagine that place.

Ask yourself, "What do I remember most?" After that, you can think about the lines and shapes.

And then, use a pencil to draw a simple version.

Aisha then starts to think of other symbols and images to represent special places and memories.

She thinks about camping, stargazing, London, and Malaysia.

Aisha thinks back to what she knows about symbols.

"To represent Malaysia, I could draw the Petronas Towers, which is a famous landmark." Over to you.

Which of these is true? A, Frank Bowling is the name of an artist.

B, many artists use symbols in their artwork.

And C, maps always have to be realistic.

What do you think? You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get? Well, if you got A and B, you are correct.

Frank Bowling is the name of an artist, and many artists do use symbols in their artwork.

Some maps are made-up places from an artist's imagination or dreams. So, maps do not always have to be realistic.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's move on.

Task A.

For Task A, you are going to create a mind map of your special places, and I'd like you to consider where you live or have lived, places you have visited, memories from different places and experiences.

Two, talk with a partner about your ideas for your symbols by closing your eyes and imagining the place, asking yourself, "What do I remember most?," and then telling your ideas to your partner.

You can pause the video here and get started with your task, and once you're ready, click play so we can continue.

So how did you do? So, you may have created a mind map like this: We've got Jacob here, his important places: Auntie's home, my home, Florence, local park, the football pitch, Sierra Leone, and school.

Two, talk with a partner about your ideas for your symbols by: Now, we've got an example here between Jacob and Aisha.

Now, they're discussing their symbol.

So Jacob says, "To represent walking with my family, I will draw a tree and a slide as a symbol." That's a really good idea, Jacob, because those are things that you might see on your walk.

Aisha says, "Playing on the slide and running around trees are my favourite things to do there." Well done for completing that task.

Let's move on to lesson cycle two.

Now, for this lesson cycle, you are now going to create a personal map sketch.

Let's get started.

Artists connect places and memories on maps in different ways, such as lines, arrows, paths, footprints.

Aisha uses her mind map to create a personal map sketch.

Aisha says, "I must space my symbols out on the page so that they all fit." That's a good idea, Aisha.

She draws the first symbol on the page.

Ooh.

Is this a good place to draw the first symbol? What do you think? Aisha says, "I must make the symbol smaller and organise them so that they can all fit." That's really good, Aisha.

That way, you can see all your symbols on one page.

So here she goes.

And actually, this is a much better size for the symbol.

'Cause it's smaller, she can now have all her symbols fit onto one page.

She then draws the second symbol on the page.

Aisha says, "I made sure that my pencil marks were light in case I make a mistake." That's also a good idea, because the lighter the marks, the easier it is to erase the marks if you make a mistake.

Aisha continued to draw her symbols until she had included everything on the map.

"Maybe I could connect them with stars to represent my love of stargazing." That's a wonderful idea, Aisha.

How might you connect Aisha's ideas? Well, if I was to connect Aisha's ideas, I do remember Aisha saying that she liked walking too.

So I would draw footprints between them all to connect the symbols.

Over to you, true or false? Artists may use arrows in art maps to connect places and memories.

Is this true or is this false? You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So, how did you do? Well, if you got true, you are correct.

Why? You can pause the video here again.

Well, artists connect places and memories on maps in different ways, such as arrows, lines, footsteps, and paths.

Well done if you were able to explain your answer.

Let's move on.

Now it is time to connect the places and memories on the map.

How can Aisha connect her places and memories? Aisha adds stars to her personal map to join the places and memories.

And we can see here the stars are connecting the symbols.

Over to you.

Using light pencil lines help us to.

Is it A, make our marks permanent? B, make sure that nobody can see our mistakes? Or C, rub out lines easily if we make a mistake? What do you think? You can pause the video here and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So what did you get? Well, if you got C, you are correct.

Using light pencil lines helps us to rub out lines easily if we make a mistake.

Let's move on.

For this task, you are going to create a personal map sketch of your special places and memories.

So you're gonna do this by thinking of the symbol for a place or memory.

You're then going to continue to draw your symbols until you have included everything on the map.

Remember to space your symbols out on your page, thinking about where you might place each symbol.

And then lastly, you're going to connect the places and memories on the map.

Now, you might do this by using lines, arrows, paths, or footprints.

You can pause the video here and have a go at this task, and when you're ready, click play to rejoin us.

Welcome back.

How did you find that task? Let's see our example.

So, here is an example of a personal map sketch.

For your example, you may have used three symbols of places that are important to you, or maybe more, as long as you were able to draw your symbols of the places that were important to you and then connect them using either lines, arrows, footprints, or even stars.

In this example, we can see drawn symbols for a special place or memory.

The drawn symbols or created patterns or lines to connect the symbols on your map.

We're now at the end of this lesson.

Well done.

So for this lesson, you now know that maps can be imaginative or symbolic.

Artists draw on their own experiences about special places, memories, and journeys in their own lives.

Artists have the ability to create art in a variety of styles.

And lastly, you now know that artists use lines and symbols in a drawing to represent real and imagined places.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.

Bye.