Mapping the Heart of Life

Grade 11 RAP Visual Art

Paper sculpture, mixed media

This year, students around the world have been challenged with distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While many things have remained uncertain during this stressful time, art has remained a constant source of happiness and comfort for me. The Grade 11 RAP CPT this semester was to create a piece using drawing as a starting point that reflects the different drawing applications we have explored throughout the course. For this assignment, I decided to further explore the mapping concept we looked at earlier in the semester. I used my mapping preliminary sketches as a starting point for my CPT.

The concept of this piece was to create a map of human anatomy. I was particularly interested in incorporating the mapping aspect of roads. I decided to create a paper sculpture depicting a heart as it's many veins and arteries mimic the roads on a map. The heart is the centre of our bodies and it is the perfect representation of human life. For the drawing component, I was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's sketches and wanted to record multiple studies of life. To further enhance the theme of mapping and roads, I created the sketches using graphite and fineliner markers using a hatching technique while placing a strong emphasis on line. The blue and red tones I used represent the veins and arteries of a heart.

I used floral foam as a light base for my sculpture. I carved out the basic shape of a heart then covered it with fragments of street maps that I have collected from cities I've visited in the past. This element acts as a map of the places I have traveled in my life and the memories I have made with family and friends which I cherish in my heart, especially in light of the ongoing pandemic. My anatomy sketches were layered on top of the street maps and were used to construct tubes that were used as the veins and arteries. To my sculpture, I also added red and blue wires around the heart to emulate veins and arteries. A final touch of copper leaf helped to reflect colour and light to bring the heart to life.

A struggle I encountered when constructing this piece was finding the correct size and shape of the tubes so they would lay on the body of the heart securely. Another big challenge when creating this piece was my inability to collaborate with and receive feedback from my classmates and teachers due to the distance learning. Having never created a paper sculpture before, I was nervous to embark on this assignment. However, through trial and error, I was able to complete a final piece that I am very proud of. While working on this piece I learned many new artistic skills and techniques and was given the opportunity to build upon communication skills among my teachers and classmates. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed creating this piece. It allowed me to try something artistically new that combined two things that I am very passionate about; art and science.