Create Your Own Jasper Johns Map

Today, create your own Jasper Johns map. Click here to see a picture of Johns’ original painting before you begin your own.

This is a very simple, very quick project. You can practice finding and labeling the states while creating your own artwork. If you choose, use a map of just the original thirteen colonies, just New England, just the southern states, or even a map of Europe, Asia, or Africa.

This would make a fun and simple social studies center if you have a place to set it up.

Supplies Needed:

Blank Map
White crayon
Watercolors
Paintbrush
Water
Print a blank map like this one. You might consider enlarging it on a copy machine and printing onto larger paper.

Trace all the lines with a white crayon. It can be difficult to see which lines you have already traced and which ones you have not. When in doubt, run your finger over the line. If it feels smooth, you need to trace the line. If it feels waxy, you have already traced it.
Next, label the states. This is where having a larger map comes in handy. It might even be a good idea to print the map in sections onto several sheets of paper and then tape or glue them together when you finish. Use your white crayon to write the names of the states on the map. You’ll want to use abbreviations for some of the smaller states. In my example, I only labeled a few of the states. You should label them all.

When you have traced every line and labeled every state, paint the map with watercolors. It’s okay to color outside the lines. In fact, you should color outside the lines. Remember what Jasper John’s map looked like?
When you’ve finished, the state lines and names will stand out against the colors of your map. Hang and enjoy!

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Jasper Johns

Jasper Johns was born in 1930 in Augusta, Georgia. He is still living and creating art so I will not say too much about him, but tomorrow I plan to post a project inspired by his art. You should certainly know a little something about him. Be sure to check out the links to his artwork so you’ll have something to inspire you when you create your own masterpiece.

Johns didn’t take any formal art lessons as a child but he knew he wanted to be an artist. In 1949 he moved to New York City to study at the Parsons School of Design. There were a lot of artists working in the city at that time and Johns made friends with some of them. He was drafted into the army soon after arriving in New York City, though.

When he returned from war, Johns began to experiment with different styles. At the time, Abstract Expressionism (the movement that included Jackson Pollock) was the popular artistic style. For the Abstract Expressionists, art was all about showing emotion. Johns work is the opposite. This may be one reason his art became as popular as it did.

Johns painted objects that everyone could recognize, like flags, numbers (and more numbers), targets, and maps. The paintings don’t show Johns’ opinions. In fact, the artwork may not have any particular meaning at all. His paintings show us things that we have seen hundreds of times and often just ignore. But we don’t ignore Johns’ paintings. Instead, we study them and find new meaning in the objects he shows us.
Johns has created more than just paintings. He has also made prints of his artwork and he has created sculptures out of found objects.

Tomorrow, create your own Jasper Johns map painting.

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