During this session, I have learned the process of printmaking. This process was a lot more extensive than I first thought. While I carried out this process, I thought about how I could make this a progressive lesson for pupils.
It is impossible for children to produce their best work when the threat of a deadline hangs over them. We cannot ask pupils to create great pieces of artwork in a limited space of time and expect each pupil to have a finished piece by the end of the allotted time. They worry about finishing work on time rather than the actual work they are creating. I hope to enforce the “quality over quantity” way of working in my classroom.
The process of printmaking allows children to develop fine motor skills (Yorkshire Sculpture Park, n.d.) which is essential to their development. As a student teacher, I will ensure that i include printmaking in my expressive arts, as it is essential that pupils develop these skills. The act of holding a tool improves basic motor functions and can improve hand eye coordination due to the concentration needed. This can also be a risk, as children are working with potentially dangerous tools to create prints. This type of expression may only be suitable to those in upper primary school.
Through printmaking, children can see their own creative processes and have time to reflect on their next steps.
During this weeks workshop, we were taught how to use lino tiles to create prints. We first started by drawing out our design on a piece of paper. This enabled us to have a guide as to where we would cut out the lino from the tile.
We then rubbed charcoal over the back of our paper and placed it onto the lino. Once we went over our drawing, we were able to see an outline to follow which had been imprinted onto the lino.
We used this as a guide to then use gouging tools to carefully remove the lino. This allowed us to see the outline more clearly.
The next step to the process was to use paint to print our design onto paper. Unfortunately, I did not get to reach this part of the process.
References:
Yorkshire Sculpture Park. (n.d.) Learning at YSP Teaching Resource: Exploring Printmaking. [Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/872850/mod_resource/content/1/ignite-teacher-resource-printmaking.pdf [Accessed: 7th April 2017]
