November 16th

Printmaking Continued

This class was about being able to continue the printmaking processes, while adding extensions onto the processes that yielded different printing formats. One of those extensions was bringing our plates over to the xerox machine to make transparent stickers of our prints. I love this idea. I love working with layers and transparency. Some of our classmates had plates that yielded really unique renditions of their collograph prints. Because my collograph wasn't too terribly successful, I didn't like the results for my stickers, but was very happy to add this process to my file on extending projects.

We looked at the artists Terry Winters and Nancy Spero to see the ways in which this media is used. I love street art, but grappled with the sense of permanence when thinking about how to teach it and when broaching these topics with students. I like the idea of using the transparent stickers for street art projects, and would love to be able to figure out if you could print large format with the same materials.

I really like the idea of stations, I think it gives students a sense of independent studio work, but I had a hard time myself, waiting at each station, and not completing some of the work that I wanted to complete, because I went from station to station and there was a bit of a wait at each. I would like to come up with a few scenarios to address that problem before using it within my classroom.

The list of printmaking terms, and the quiz-like worksheet where we defined: brayer, inking up, pulling a print, charging a brayer, a proof, an edition, collagraph, relief printing, handmade paper, rag edge, tearing prints and signing—is a great way to review the terminology fro the processes, and throws a little literacy into the printmaking process.

The class ended with a discussion on our Dystopian graphic novels and related materials. I like the idea of doing a collection of work, or a collaboration of work, with a class that culminates in a book. I also like the giant collaborative monoprint, I think building upon something like that with a whole unit on printmaking might be a great continuity project.