Sharon Quigley with Primary 4, 5 and 6 pupils at Broomhouse Primary School
Map Icons (2017) came into being after weeks of creative writing, adventuring and map art making at Broomhouse Primary School using only fine art paper, felt tips, watercolours and imagination. Inspired by the personal geographies created by artists and cartographers alike, this new set of map works co-authored by the young people outline various landscapes – from the familiar to the unknown and invented, from the school grounds via Princess Street Gardens to outer space. The journey into the concepts and skills of navigation dominated Sharon’s artist-in-residence sessions at the school producing a wide-ranging collection of inventive map icons, charting places we are not expected to find but in our minds!
Just a few of the issues which kept surfacing in the young artists’ minds: Do maps only show land and water? Are there maps to happiness and despair? What about those speculative maps to secret places known only to the mapmaker? All agreed that artists’ maps show another kind of uncharted territory – the ocean of imagination stretching beyond the boundaries of geography.
Showing as part of You Are Here exhibition at Broomhouse Primary School celebrating the achievements of the first artists’ residencies in the school
Curated by Iliyana Nedkova as part of From A to B: From Abbeyhill to Broomhouse Primary School artists-in-residence programme
Facilitated by Claire Cochrane, Emma Gillen and Sarah Stevenson at Broomhouse Primary School
Supported by Jamie Petrie, Pamela Souter and Sarah Stevenson at Broomhouse Primary School; Liz Conacher and Sarah Mackinnon at National Galleries Scotland and Theresa Pickles at Jar 22
Did you know: From A to B: From Abbeyhill to Broomhouse Primary School artists-in-residence programme was established in December 2016 by Sally Ketchin, Iliyana Nedkova and Jamie Petrie
