Map, Laura Houwaart, 2018

MAPPING THE GROUNDS / IDEAS FOR DRAWING Format: A map of your surroundings in the broadest sense.

During this first project we will work around drawing as a study of experimenting by taking visual notes. It is about observation and how to put things on paper. The assignment is to design a map of your surroundings in the broadest sense; for instance, the places where you have lived, the cities you have visited or want to visit, your own room or the rooms of your friends, hours of the day, the things you carry with you in your bag... Describe what these places/happenings mean to you, and how they are connected. What kind of stories happen in the places you want to show in your map. This assignment is about finding ways of exploring visual possibilities to bring together all kinds of different components in a particular way, creating a map. To achieve this you have to develop a keen eye for detail, structures, overview, particular combinations of objects, colors, light, shadow, the architecture of the space, atmosphere, etc...

Research:

• Make an inventory of how cities, buildings, spaces, pieces of land are being represented in maps and ground plans.
• Search for artists who work around mapping; who document their walks, way of life, surrounding…
• Think about how to organise the collected information and make a translation to your own map. The map should have an interesting concept/subject matter, show a personal angle and at the same time be readable for an audience.
• Dimensions are free; it can be a small booklet, folded poster, big, small...

Some extra information and two examples: Cartography is the art and science of making maps. Humans have been creating maps since ancient times: The earliest map is thought to be a schematic of the night sky found in the caves of Lascaux, France, dating to 16,5000 BCE. While we often consider maps to be objective representations of physical space, they are laden with subjective views of the world. Additionally, maps change over time: Borders and boundaries are constantly in flux, shifting along political lines and in response to changes in international relationships. Many artists have used maps to tell wide ranging stories about conflict, migration, identity, and social, cultural or political networks.

1 Make a Mental Map A mental map* is a person’s internalised representation of the world, combining the objective knowledge of the world and an individual’s subjective perspective. Draw your city, town, or neighbourhood according to you. What places do you visit often? How do you get there? Without looking at a map, draw and label places such as your school, stores you visit, routes you take frequently, your home and the homes of your friends, and other favorite landmarks.

Map, Renske de Vries, 2018

2 Identity Mapping Create a map of your own identity using colored pencils and paper. Your map should en- compass aspects of your outer, physical world as well as your inner, psychological state of mind. Before drawing your map, brainstorm a list of words to include. Consider your ambitions, fears, and character traits as well as geographic places of interest. Then think about how to best visually represent these items, and incorporate this style into your map. What kind of geographic landmarks best represent the different aspects of your identity? See for example: Grayson Perry’s Map of an Englishman (search for Grayson Perry at: www.socks-studio.com and find lots of other interesting information on this site as well!) which could be interpreted as a representation of his identity and ideas.

• Mental maps provide people with essential means of making sense of the world and of storing and recalling information about the patterns of Earth’s physical and human features. These maps represent ever-changing summaries of spatial knowledge and are indicators of how well people know the spatial characteristics of places. We develop and refine our mental maps through personal experience, moving from simple to more complex levels of completeness and accuracy, continuing to add layers of information so that our mental maps reflect a growing understanding of a changing world. As people read, hear, observe, and think more about the world around them, they add more detail and structure to their mental maps and accumulate layers of information that can be used in problem solving and decision making. Perception plays an important role in the creation and development of ones understandings of the world.

Map, Jules Schretzmeier, 2018

Map legend (sketch), Jules Schretzmeier, 2018

03 In class exercise

“The idea part is simple but the visual perception is complex.” - Sol LeWitt

For this exercise we’ll make a series of drawings of a still life of several boxes, following a list of instructions as a guideline. Every step should take around 3-5 minutes. Make several variations of each instruction by using various types of lines, for example: sharp, trembling, thick, thin, blurry, sketchy. Use different pens and pencils: hard, soft. Use contrasts.

1 Draw the boxes only in deconstructed elements:

• single lines only vertical
• single lines only horizontal
• single lines only diagonal
• single lines a combination of the above, may be a selection of lines - single lines a combination of the above no touching lines
• very fast
• very, very, very, very, very slow
• plain, flat surfaces
• draw only the corners by representing them as single points
• make several patterns with a selection of elements you’ve drawn
• find letterforms in the setup, what does it tell?
• use a ruler if you want

Draw the boxes as volumes:

• in line, in perspective, one a big as possible one as small as possible
• as a silhouette in line, one a big as possible one as small as possible
• the silhouette as a form, filled in, one a big as possible one as small as possible. - use different kinds of textures/structures to fill in the boxes
• in different grey tones, explore cross hatching

Draw the boxes in different conditions:

• as if the boxes are blown up, so the form becomes more rounded. - as if the boxes are distorted
• very different from one another
• draw all the boxes without taking your pen off the paper
• draw the boxes without looking at your paper

Boxes, Jules Schretzmeier, 2018

2 After the more formal first part the second part of the exercise is about transformation: how can the boxes represent something else? Use the drawings from the first exercises as an inspiration and transform the boxes in a city, furniture, a cubistic drawing, a pattern. Play with repetition, rhythm, optical illusions, scale, perspective and all the elements mentioned above regarding types of line, cross hatching etc. Try out various options, make several drawings.

04 Homework exercise