About This Artwork

This artwork is created out of old, unused maps, map pins, embroidery string, and paint pens. The artwork emphasises different areas of our chosen map, mine being Europe. The map pins are placed on important and well-known places (and others) and are all connected with embroidery string. Each region (or country) has a story connected to it, which is written in paint pens, across the border of each country. This artwork took 7 weeks to create.

Steps of the Process

Drafting

We created 3 draft projects, each taking 1 week to create. They allowed us to try out different pin and string layouts, as well as colours and words. Below are my 3 draft projects.

Final Planning

We needed to plan out beforehand what our final product would look like. Below is my planning for the colour and positioning of the pins, and what I would write for each country. This process took 1 week.

Creation of the Final Artwork

The creation of my final work took 3 weeks. The map was a real map that came from an old National Geographic magazine. I started by placing the pins in the appropriate places on my map. After, I wrote the stories, before adding the embroidery string. I made the artwork on a corkboard, and a black frame was placed on the inside edge.

Capabilities

Organisation

I needed lots of organisation if I wanted to finish the project in the allocated time. For each lesson, I aimed to finish at least one important task. For example, finishing one draft, the planning process, or laying down the pins.

Creativity

Of course, I needed lots of creativity to add a little personal flair to my artwork. I needed to see the different possibilities that my artwork could have, so that I could decide what my artwork would look best as.

Problem Solving

Lots of problem-solving was required to get through the task. For example, there were many times that the string came undone halfway through winding it, and many times I had misplaced the pins. I needed to think of effective solutions to these problems.