UNIT 8 Primary Research: Yorkshire Museum and the Museum Gardens

During my visit to York I decided to continue my search for relevant pieces of primary research at the Yorkshire Museum and the Museum Gardens. I found this visit was quite useful as I photographed many variations of maps however I found due to the historic focus of the exhibitions I widened the diversity of my primary research on cartography.

'Roman York'

'Capital of the North'

The museum itself was rather small however I thought the exhibitions were well chosen providing history of Yorkshire and were displayed really effectively. The 'Roman York' and 'Capital of the North' exhibitions provided me with older maps which when compared with some of my research from more recent times showed how the geography of Yorkshire has changed. Within the Museum Gardens I discovered a beautiful pebble mosaic of a map of Yorkshire which showcased the geology through the use of materials.

Roman Map of Europe in the main hall of the Museum

The cartography I collected from the Yorkshire Museum were produced to show the geography and political borders at specific times during the Roman and Medieval Britain eras. This created variety within my primary research of cartography as I now have diverse range of maps from historical eras all the way to modern day maps. By collecting such a variety of primary research on cartography I could compare and choose which maps inspire me the most to produce creative ideas.

 

 

 

'Pebble Mosaic', Jan Ireland (2016)

As I was leaving the Museum to look through the museum gardens I came across a brochure for a new mosaic that had been added the museum gardens. The mosaic was created by Jan Ireland she had recreated a map to commemorate 200 years since William Smith produced the first geological map of Britain; she created the mosaic of the Yorkshire segment of the map. Ireland carefully choose materials from each of the locations on the map and used them to create focal points within her mosaic. I want to ensure during the design process of my project I carefully choose my materials.

 

My sketchbook page on Jan Ireland

My sketchbook page on the Yorkshire Museum