The Isle of Man Nature Journal Map has grown into a fantastic resource for teachers. I’ve seen first-hand how inspired children are when they explore the many creative ways artists have captured the beauty of our island. We now have enough artwork on the map to begin developing lesson plans and teaching schemes, making it easier for teachers to use the IOMNJ website to inspire their classes and I’ll be working on these over the coming weeks. Read on to find out how you can help by sending in artwork of areas we don’t yet have covered.
I love designing a logo and find I’m more inspired to start working on a new project once one’s created (plus I just love playing around on Canva)! There’ll be a new area on the website for the educational resources and feedback/request form so that teachers can guide how we develop resources in the future.
Looking at the IOMNJ map I noticed that some areas have much more art than others. We could really do with many more artworks showing landscape or nature on the Northern Plain and the west coast of the Island from Kirk Michael up to the Point of Ayre. The coast south of Douglas to Ronaldsway is also sparse, including Post Soderick. The central valley through Glen Vine, Crosby, Greeba and St Johns are also not covered and surprisingly Foxdale has no art either. I’ll have to stop off there and do a quick sketch on my next trip to the studio!
Any extra art is helpful though, even if it’s in an area that already has a lot of art, as having many different representations of the same area gives a great opportunity to discuss whether there’s a ‘right’ way to do art and gives insight into the fact that we all see the world differently – and that’s ok! Thank you so much to all the people who have already contributed to the map. This project wouldn’t be anywhere without you!
When thinking about the different ways that the map can be used for educational purposes, I realised that it not only inspires a greater understanding of art styles and approaches, and hopefully the desire in children to get out and create art themselves, but it also can be used to teach about the geography and biodiversity of the Isle of Man. There are so many ways the resource can be used that I’m sure I haven’t thought of them all yet. That’s one reason I’ll be discussing the development of the lesson plans with staff in primary schools as I work on them. If any of my readers have suggestions I’d also be interested in hearing them, so send them to emma@iomnj.com (which is also the address for any photos of artwork that you’d like to be added to the map).
I’ll also be designing tutorials for wildflower sketching, based on the workshops that I ran at my ‘Uncaged’ Studio Umami art residency (see this blog post). I love working out how to make drawing different species of flower easy, as once you know a couple of techniques you realise that it isn’t impossible to create really lovely drawings and that can be all someone needs to give them the confidence to keep on developing their skills.
It’s an exciting stage of the project and I can feel it turning into something really special. If you – or someone you know – has created artwork featuring the landscapes or nature of the Isle of Man, please send it my way!
It’s going to be a busy few weeks!
Emma
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