Printmaking
As a visual arts middle grades teacher my 6th grade students do collographs and my 7th and 8th grade students make linoleum block prints. My 7th and 8th grade majors make screenprints and print on both paper and fabric. I have several concept goals I wish to teach:
- The role of printmaker in society and the significance of prints as a vital form of communication
- Show the work of Durer, Rembrandt and Hogarth as well as Posada.
- Printmaking has a very unique and different look than traditional drawing.
- What is a print and an edition
What is a Print? From the MOMA site, “A print is a work of art made up of ink on paper and existing in multiple examples. It is created not by drawing directly on paper, but through an indirect transfer process. The artist begins by creating a composition on another surface and the transfer occurs when a sheet of paper, placed in contact with this surface, is run through a printing press. Among the advantages of making an artwork in this way is that numerous “impressions” can be made, because new pieces of paper can be sent through the press in the same way. The artist decides how many to make and the total number of impressions is called an “edition.”"
From NationMaster.com “Collography is a printmaking process in which materials are applied to a rigid substrate (such as cardboard or wood), ink is applied to the resulting collage, and the board is printed onto paper or another material. The resultant print is termed a collograph. The term “collography” is derived from the Greek word collo, meaning glue, and the English word graph meaning the activity of drawing. Collography is a very open printmaking method. Ink may be applied to the upper surfaces of the plate with a brayer for a relief print, or ink may be applied to the entire board and then removed from the upper surfaces but remaining in the spaces between objects, resulting in an intaglio print. A combination of both intaglio and relief methods may also be employed. A printing press may or may not be used.”
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Karen’s linoleum block print multiple times entered into the Dixie Classic Fair.
An Annotated Bibliography for Contemporary Printmaking is a good article to read by the folks at the University of Tennesee, Knoxville.
Wikipedia has a great history of woodblock prints in Europe. There is also a seperate listing for woodblock prints in Japan.
Another resource for teaching printmaking is the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s The Printed Image in the West: History and Techniques.
Looking for a history of printmaking? The Highpoint Center for Printmaking has one.
In my classroom:
- Printmaking Rubric .doc .pdf
- Printmaking – How to make an edition and group work worksheet .doc .pdf
- Printmaking Collograph Lesson Plan .doc .pdf
Printmaking Interactive Crossword
Printmaking Crossword original Hotpotato .jmt file
Printmaking CPS test file .cps format
