Student Printmaking

         This week I taught printmaking to kids for the first time in four years, so it’s also been four years since I’ve been able to share kids’ creations.  This week’s group included students who will be entering grades 5-9, none of whom had done printmaking before.  Over the course of the week we got through quite a few projects, so today I’m sharing what I consider to be some of the highlights.  Of course, art is personal and a matter of taste, so the kids themselves might have other favorites, as might other adults.  But these are some of my favorites.

        The first grouping are examples of the “foreground and background” project, in which they carved sets of blocks intended to be printed together.  The deer and the mushrooms are both by one student, and I love the contrast between them and the way she was able to think so differently about the two pieces.

        Next are examples of patterns: mostly 1.25 inch squares carved and printed repeatedly.  The piece in the lower left, however, is by a student who filled most of her blocks with dense patterning.  You can see another of hers in the next grouping, and I’m sure you can guess which one it is!

        All the pieces in this third group are classic relief block printmaking: one block, one color ink, and let the bold, graphic effect carry it.  From simple to detailed, block prints always look great!  The piece in the lower right is an example of a happy accident.  The rubber turned out to have some sort of odd flaw which caused it to print with that craquelure effect, which just happens to work perfectly for the water in the koi pool.  (Although it happened to work great for this piece, however, I will say that I have been unhappy with recent orders of rubber.  I feel like the quality has gone down substantially since I began using this brand some 20 or more years ago.  More and more of 

the blocks are flawed these days.)

        And finally I have two pieces to share that came out particularly well.  In both cases the students used reference pictures in designing their sketches, so I wouldn’t call the designs 100% original.  However, they did both do such an excellent job in their execution that I’d say they really demonstrated full understanding of what they were trying to do and how to get there.  The sea arch was printed first on white paper, which was them given a watercolor sky.  Because we use water-based ink, this artist had to work very meticulously at the edges to avoid making the printing ink run, while still making a very painterly wash of color.  He also used watercolors on some of his other pieces with equally effective results.  

The final piece is an example of a Provincetown-style white line print.  It’s quite small and beautifully detailed.

        Did any of these inspire you to give printmaking a try?  Which project looks like the most fun to you?

[Pictures: Deer, rubber block print with two blocks by EV;

Mushrooms, rubber block print with two blocks by EV;

Dog, rubber block print with two blocks by KL;

Waterfall, rubber block print with two blocks by VM;

Little square, rubber block print by EV;

Little square (and the block), rubber block print by CZ;

Rubber block by SV;

Little square, rubber block print by CG;

Cow, rubber block print by LG;

Landscape, rubber block print by CG;

Vase, rubber block print by CZ;

Abstract music, rubber block print by SV;

Koi pond, rubber block print by VM;

Sea arch, rubber block print with watercolor by MW;

Provincetown-style rubber block print by KL, all 2023.]