Outback Summer Programs, Part 2 August 18, 2010

I had a great week teaching printmaking at Outback Summer Programs in Cambridge.  For the older age group (grades 3-6), we focused the printmaking on abstract art, and using the print to create a larger work of art.  First, the kids created a simple foam etching using shapes.  After printing multiple images, they cut parts of some prints and glued them to the other prints.  Second, they made a collograph plate of an initial in their name.  Using rotation and repetion, abstract designs were created from the repeating letter.  Third, the kids carved linoleum blocks and created reduction prints.  They turned the abstract prints into quilt images.  Finally, they created monoprints with ink and stencils on plexiglass, and printed them on fabric.  Fun!

Outback Summer Programs, Part 1

Last week, I taught 2 printmaking classes during the Outback Summer Programs, part of the Agassiz Baldwin Community in Cambridge.  For the younger age group (grades 1 and 2), we focused our printing on summertime themes.  The kids first made leaf and vegetable stampings, using tempera paint.  They created collograph plates of insects and printed using the traditional method of inks and brayers.  For the 3rd project, the kids made foam etchings of flowers, and printed them using a simple marker-and-wet paper technique.  Finally, they painted monoprints on plexi-glass.