Patchwork’s Arts & Smarts Program is nearing the halfway point of our spring semester. We’ve done some great work already and are looking ahead to more fun in the future!
One big project we’re in the middle of is learning how to do printmaking. It all started when Jane Vickers decided we were overdue for a printmaking lesson. Jane sat down with some materials that we had on hand and had some fun experimenting with them to make a printing plate. In the end, she made a cardboard collage that she could use as a printing plate for a process called collagraphy.
Once Jane worked out the process, she led our Arts & Smarts participants in making their own collagraphs. She suggested they focus on making a house or a landscape, showed them construction techniques, and discussed horizon lines and perspective. She also gave them space to try their own experiments.
Once the printing plates were assembled, the real fun began. We pulled out printing ink and brayers, and everyone learned how to ink their collagraphs and apply pressure to their paper to get good prints. Once everyone got the hang of the basic technique, Jane encouraged them to experiment with things like using different color schemes and making offset prints on the same piece of paper. The group also experimented with making another kind of printing plate by scratching lines into a foam dinner plate then inking and printing that.
Quickly, the group learned the fun of printmaking. They turned out multiple prints in quick succession, tried one experiment and then another, and looked at the results of their neighbor’s experiments. Kids working next to adults were inspired by the adults’ prints and challenged themselves to do new things in their own art. Adults working next to kids were inspired to jump into the project and make things without getting too caught up in a quest for perfection.
Our goal for the project is for everyone to complete enough prints that we can exchange them within the group. The prints will also be incorporated into a “junk journal” that each participant will make in the second half of the semester. The entire project is a great example of the kind of open-ended, project-based art lessons that make our Arts & Smarts programming special.
