SchoolArts - May/June 2008

Left to right: Miki Sagawa, grade six; Erica Lee, grade six; Nicole Gasmen, grade six; Maya Fegan, grade six.

use a 24 x 36" ( 61 x 91 cm) paper or larger. We have now made our stencil.

Printing Objects

The second phase includes creating imagery on and around the stencil. Foremost, I like to have students draw on Styrofoam printing plates since they can be drawn on with pencils, cut with scissors, and easily used for printing. I also encourage students to use found objects, sponges, hands, shoes, card-

board, or anything else with a distinctive texture.

The objects are covered with water-based printing ink using a brayer, then hand-printed onto the black paper. Here, the students need to fill the entire negative space with printed images, words, or textures.

This process
may take
two or three
class periods
because the
ink needs to
dry before
images can be overlapped. Once the
ink is fully dried, the stencil can be
carefully removed.

In printmaking, images can
be repeated, overlapped,
inked in various colors, cut up,
reassembled, and manipulated.

Removal of the Stencil

The next step is to take off the stencil. It will reveal an unblemished shape free of any ink or paint. From here, since the paper is black, I encourage students to draw with white charcoal pencils. They can use shading techniques like crosshatching and smudging to create value changes or simply add a contour drawing. Words, lyrics, or symbols can also add depth.

My students enjoy the printmaking process. They all gain valuable experience in creating work that is both experimental and formal. I teach this lesson to my eighth graders and they love it. I hope you will, too.