Students from Kindergarten through 8th grade collaborated on assemblage art banners that are currently installed at the South Shore YMCA. Throughout the fall, students experimented with a variety of printmaking processes and contributed their individual prints of leaves and flowers to these large scale artworks.
A Note about the Printmaking Processes
A Note about the Printmaking Processes
The younger students in grades K–3 carefully observed and then sketched the leaf or flower they were studying on a styrofoam printing plate. They then rolled colorful paints onto their “plates,” and their resulting prints showed the white line of their leaf and flower drawings.
The older students in grades 4–6 looked closely at a variety of leaves, and then created a line drawing of their chosen subject on a flexible carving block. Instead of carving the line, they carved all the spaces around their line drawings. This is a more complicated process and resulted in a print of both the outline and the “bones” of the leaf. The students then painted the insides of their leaves with vibrant fall colors.
The dynamic border of the second banner is composed of symmetrical face designs, made of felt, that explore the connection between positive and negative spaces.
The dynamic border of the second banner is composed of symmetrical face designs, made of felt, that explore the connection between positive and negative spaces.
Some of the students in grades 7–8 painted with bleach on cotton material to create the tree, the peace sign, and the dove.