Theme: Creating Space

Reference: Prints from the online exhibition In Print

Handout: Responding to Artworks

Objectives:
• Students will use simple lines and shapes to draw objects, figures, or animals.
• Learn the process of printmaking and making multiples.
• Learn to use repetition of simple shapes to create complex images.
• Learn about a contemporary artist’s work.
• Learn techniques for creating 3-dimensional space in a 2-dimensional image.

Materials:
• Soft brayers for inking
• Paintbrushes
• Plates for rolling ink (flat Plexiglas, metal cookie sheets, or flat glass)
• Printing inks in one or a few colours
• Paper for printing (construction paper, rice paper, computer paper, or drawing paper)
• Pencils
• Sketching paper
• Painting shirts or smocks
• Newspapers to lie onto tables to keep surfaces clean
• Water-mister to keep inks from drying out
• Small pieces of thick cardboard
• Assorted materials to glue onto cardboard for a collograph print. For this project, drawing and cutting out shapes from foam or cardboard would work well.
• White glue
• Acrylic medium (optional)

*If printing inks are unavailable, acrylic or latex paints can be used if retarder is added to the paint. This slows down the drying time of the paint, which is essential for printing

Pre-Class Preparation:
• Have printing area set up away from drawing area and from the printing papers, to ensure ink is separate from areas you want to keep clean.
• Have printing inks ready before students begin. Place a small amount of ink on the printing tray, and with a brayer roll out the ink to allow the brayer to be coated with ink. Keep rolling ink until it covers the brayer and is spread out evenly.
• Keep inks misted with water as they begin to dry out. Ink should sound sticky as you roll it out to evenly cover the printing plate.
• This will be a project that lasts a few sessions, to allow for drying time of prints.

Procedure:
1. Introduce students to various printmaking techniques by viewing the Permanent Collection Exhibition In Print to discuss printmaking methods and show samples of different types of printmaking. Use the handout Responding to Artworks to discuss the online exhibition.
2. Discuss the techniques of creating the illusion of three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional image. Some ways artists create the illusion of space is by:
• Size: Objects or figures that are closer to you appear larger; objects or figures that are further away appear smaller. Pnina Granirer, Allan Wood
• Overlapping: One object covers part of a second object, so the one on top appears closer. Gu Xiong
• Placement: Objects or figures placed on the ground and below the horizon line appear closer to you than objects or figures that are placed above the horizon line. (Horizon line is the line separating the sky from the ground.) Susan Gransby, William Laing
• Details: Objects and figures closer to you have more details and are brighter, while objects and figures farther away are hazy and paler in colour. Michael Bjornson
Do you notice these techniques in any of the prints you have looked at? Do all the prints create an illusion of space? Do some of the images have deeper space than others?
3. Choose a theme such as: landscape, seascape, animals, cities, household objects, people or abstract shapes. This theme will dictate the type of background and objects/figures students will use in their prints. The background will be a colourful monoprint. Objects and/or figures will be created with collograph prints glued onto the background to create the illusion of space by overlapping, size variation, placement, and details.
4. Teacher shows an example of a finished work. Teacher begins by demonstrating the process of monoprinting – painting method, then students proceed with planning and creating their monoprints.
5. Leave monoprints to dry. Teacher does a demonstration of collograph printmaking for all students to observe, including: drawing and cutting foam shapes, gluing down the shapes, inking up the plate(s), printing, inking up, printing again. It is important students realize they are creating multiples!
6. Students plan and sketch their collographs, remembering to create images that are of different sizes. Each student can create at least 3 different collograph plates: a small shape, a medium shape, and a large shape created from the foam or cardboard. Once glue has dried, students proceed with printing.
7. Put your prints to dry on a clothesline or drying rack. (Generally takes 1 full day or longer to dry to the touch)
8. Repeat steps 8 – 12 so students create several prints. Plates can be saved for future use, or destroyed to ensure there is only one edition.
9. Once collograph prints have dried, cut them out and glue them onto your monoprint background. Remember to use the various techniques in creating the illusion of space!

Extensions:
Ensure students have one extra print that is clean (no smudges) and properly inked. This print can become a part of a group art exhibition or as one page of a book for the classroom. Remember to sign and number this print!
Students can also start their own print collection by trading extra prints with one another.