Finding Our Way To The Sea: Working with Poole Museum and local schools to co-create a map-based artwork

Click here to download a copy of the final artwork.

Finding Our Way To The Sea is a mapping exercise in collaboration with two junior schools and Poole Museum. Conceived and produced by Feria Urbanism, this project was part of the Creatives in the Community series, an initiative of Poole Museum. The conceptual framework behind Finding Our Way To The Sea links the two ideas of Connection and Interdependence. Central to the project were the experiences and imaginations of young people from two junior schools located close to Poole Museum – Ocean Academy that lies to the east of Poole town centre and Bayside Academy that lies to the west.

Classroom Research

Working on maps and aerial photographs in their classrooms, the children helped to identify and plot the best walking route between their school and Poole Museum. There were discussions during these sessions around the quality of the walking experience, the heritage assets encountered along the way (such as listed buildings and landmark architecture), the sense of independence (or lack of) that children experience when choosing how to travel and the people and communities found along their preferred routes.

The children were also asked what new features could make their walk into town more enjoyable, more appealing and more fun. Using text and drawings, they marked up their preferred route with imaginative ideas.

Walking as Research

A few weeks later, and on the same day, groups from both schools walked their chosen route and converged on Poole Museum just a few minutes apart. Along the way, the children observed the built environment around them. This walk became a journey of discovery. Combined with their classroom work, the children’s observations during the walk became the basis for the final map-based artwork, to be displayed in Poole Museum once it reopens after refurbishment.

Final Artwork

Subconsciously inspired by the visual and written work of Sue Clifford, Angela King and Roger Deakin at Common Ground, Richard took a selection of the children’s classroom ideas and created a series of bespoke illustrations. These were placed around the edge of his hand drawn map. Richard added text to the drawing to indicate where these features could realistically appear. Conventional places names that appear on the Ordnance Survey data were also added to the map using the same typeface.

This deliberate combination of the established and the everyday with the imaginary and the inspired informed the final artwork, a fantastical version of Poole. Through this process, a poetic bridge was built between land and sea, between the urban and the suburban. New connections were made between the areas where people live, work and study, the museum and Poole’s unique maritime environment.

Our Approach

Feria Urbanism brought an unusual and valuable angle to this artistic project. Our methods and practices resulted in an engaging artwork with practical applications. Our studio has extensive experience working with young people, alongside experience producing maps, diagrams and high quality visual material. A curiosity about how young people move through the town to reach the waterside was a motivation behind the project. While the inspiration for this project was primarily a mapping exercise, the consequence has been to reveal a wealth of information, creating opportunities for further investigation, such as how to overcome the barriers to easy and safe movement and the hidden histories of Poole’s neighbourhoods.

Acknowledgments & Credits

With thanks to the staff and students from Bayside Academy and Ocean Academy, the team at Poole Museum Foundation and Poole Museum Volunteers including Erni Pelham, Alison Gudgeon, Katie Heaton, Ella Dunn, Wilbert Smith, James Pelham, Louise Diffey, Lorenda Elliott, Emma Cawte, and Greendale Construction.

Film footage by Richard Eastham, film editing by Richard Koburn and graphic design by Naomi Chapman. Project support from Laura Taylor.