5 4 3 2 1...

Heading into the last four lessons of the term and thinking about the reductive lesson I'm teaching to my painting and drawing class. We're on week three of this lesson, and only at the second printing. It's time I think to reign it in and finish it off. We'll be adding any further carvings today and printing with black on top of the first colour.








And a few hours later after the lesson it's done. They look amazing. I'm exhausted and looking forward to a new lesson next week.

About Setting up Boundaries

In any given class I am pretty open about what ends up on my young artist's final pieces because, Art. I love their creativity and I normally don't want to put up boundaries or barriers to their creativity because and I'll say it again: Art.

There are times, lessons, techniques, and projects that require boundaries, limitations and rules to be followed. This multi-week lesson is one of those times. While I am completely psyched to see my young students take a technique and subject matter to a completely different place than I could have imagined; I also think that constraining the boundless creativity once in a while is a wonderful way to flex the creative muscle in a different way.

A reduction print using black, white and two other colours was going to be a tricky lesson regardless of the age and skill level of the students in my class. To make things simpler I reigned in the subject on top of the limits to colour application. Instead of a pictorial image I had my students use geometric shapes to create a pattern inside their image frame. They could place them side by side, overlap them or create an image with their shape. I then had them choose two colours to add to their composition leaving some areas white, filling in some areas with black and using the other two colours at their discretion.

All of this was shared at the beginning of the first of the classes  and revisited through out that lesson with explanations of why I had given them these limitations. Of course with out a finished project to demo for them there was a lot of confusion but for the most part they stayed within the restrictions I'd set out. I am a tiny bit humbled at that, these young people are putting faith in me to lead them through this mysterious project. The pressure is on.

 I have a few students who are know for owning boundless creativity and their work is highly detailed; often following their own inspiration as opposed to the subject demoed in a lesson. They use the techniques I set out in the lesson but create a work of art surpassing the lesson. Conveying to these free spirits the importance of working only within the boundaries I'd set up in this lesson was a battle fought on a slight incline that became steeper with each step.

I am currently wrapping my brain around ways to get these ideas across to these two young artists. When fine detail will hinder a project, when an abundance of colour can't be fit within the time frame of the term and will likely become too frustrating; and even worse, boring. As it is I'm already considering reigning in the lesson even more and taking out one of the colours in the design...

This lesson is one where not only am I teaching a technique but I am also learning about how best to teach it. I'm really looking forward to see how they all turn out and on top of that I"m looking forward to the lesson after this one is completed: a straight up painting project.

My House Smells Like a Candy Cane : Reduction Printing

Last week I posted about a multi-week printmaking lesson I was starting.

I knew it was going to be challenging but I suppose I didn't quite get the level of challenge this class had the capability of reaching. I am not quite sure that that last sentence actually means what I think it means but I'm going to leave it as is...

I'm teaching myself how to teach this lesson. There are technical challenges for this project that I've been figuring out and problem solving throughout the planning and the execution of the lessons and the challenge of transferring my student's images from paper onto the Styrofoam plates they will be using to print off of is one of the most technical. I've had my brain working overtime to figure out the best process for transferring the images while keeping the integrity of the plates intact. Any indents made to the surface would become white areas on the print and I didn't want my students health to be a factor; on top of that there's the factor of time to consider. This project will take at least three classes to complete.

I want my students to begin the process of creating an image as soon as possible otherwise they'll lose interest. Keeping those things in mind I tested a few image transferring techniques and settled on using peppermint oil to transfer the coloured pencil drawings onto the Styrofoam plates. An extra plus is that with further testing I now know that peppermint oil will transfer oil pastel drawings which offers a solution to the more detail loving student challenges this lesson brings to the table. The nature of this project is not friendly to teeny weeny details big shapes and bold lines work best. providing the intricate artists in the class with oil pastel forces the issue... which means there are more challenges involved....

First colour printing of my demo plate. Next step is to
carve out the ares that will stay yellow and print
the second colour on the plate. 

My living room is minty fresh and the evaporation from rubbing the drawings gently onto the plates has made my hands cold. With that solution in place I'm now considering the other challenges this lesson is providing.

Printmaking in Painting And Drawing

I love the concept of relief printmaking with kids. Over the last few years of teaching at Artspace I've included printmaking in one form or another at least once in each term. I have a few different types of printmaking techniques I've used and one of my favourites is using Styrofoam plates to create a relief print. I have been playing with the idea to add a multi-lesson reductive two or three colour printing lesson to this terms plan. It's a daunting plan, there's a lot to keep in mind: alignment of paper, reverse images, inking, carving and studio management.

I've put off the lesson for a few weeks as I've mulled these things over. While I think I've gotten some aspects figured out; there are others that I'm still feeling unsure about.