Transport for London's Art on The Underground has launched an art map to help kids get creative during the summer holidays.
The collaboration with artist Michael Crowe and London schoolchildren has produced a leaflet which spotlights six permanent commissions on the London Underground network and encourages children to think like artists, with creative prompts and space to write and draw.
The leaflet is available online and at 11 London Underground stations, with artworks and writing by participating schoolchildren also on display in the South Kensington Subway
Art on the Underground commissions artists each year to create works for London's Underground network, including paintings, installations and custom Tube map covers. Six commissions, including Larry Achiampong's 2022 pan-African roundel at Westminster Underground station, have been selected by artist Michael Crowe to feature in a newly launched art map. The Spaghetti Map leaflet is created by Spaghetti Club, an art and creative writing collaboration between the artist and more than 100 children across five London primary schools.
Spaghetti Map draws on references from sunsets and angels to Greek mythology and Ghanaian Akan symbols to introduce the Art on the Underground commissions, showing how artworks in public space bring imagination into daily life. Text and image-based prompts with space for readers to write and draw encourage wide-ranging responses. Integrated throughout Spaghetti Map, material by primary students Crowe collaborated with provides further inspiration and highlights humour as a way of connecting to art.
Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries, Justine Simons, said:
"Art on the Underground is a jewel in London's cultural crown, bringing world class artwork to millions of Londoners and visitors every day on TfL's Underground network.
"The Spaghetti Map is the latest brilliant example of how this project sparks creativity and imagination in children and young people during the summer holidays. The Mayor and I are committed to ensuring everyone in the capital has access to fantastic art and culture as we continue to build a better and more creative London for all."
Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground, said:
"The wonderful thing about art is that we all have our own unique ways of responding to it. By drawing on iconic artworks on our Underground network, Spaghetti Map calls on kids to think outside the box and let their imaginations run free, with inspirational hints from the schoolchildren involved that will make you laugh, think and see the world in a new way."
Spaghetti Club founder Michael Crowe, said:
"Spaghetti Map isn't an "A to B" style map, it's a map for ideas, inviting children to think like artists and put pen to paper while underground. It's an invitation to children and adults to get to know a local artwork, and to look out for others while traveling through the city. Did you know there's a unique Mark Wallinger artwork in every Underground station?"
