ENGAGE AND PERSIST: Collagraph Printmaking

One of the 8 “Studio Habits” (Hetland et el, 2007) artists practice in the Choice-Based art studio is Engage and Persist.”  This is what artists do when they grab hold of an idea and stuck with it.

Collagraph Print by "A," Grade 5

Recently I  observed a 5^th grade student demonstrating this habit. He was learning to make a collagraph and print it on our etching press. There were many steps to practice and his first try did not produce satisfactory results.

The student who made the handsome edition of prints pictured above worked independently to master this new technique over a three day period. He stuck with it until he could control all aspects of the process and produce a good, clean image.

The Class that Loved Clay

With four weeks left in school, the Clay Center’s days are numbered. Clay artists are intent on making the most of the few days that are left.

One class in particular is especially prolific, as evidenced by our new style of graph: The "Team Box-top Graph."

As you can see, the DREAM team is outdistancing the other teams hands down.

Finding an idea then finding the “right stuff”

A small cohort of papier mâché artists have been working for several days now on various animal forms. The mâché was layered over balloon armatures – a process these students had experience with from past years.

"C's" Bee, Grade 5

Once the sculptures were hard, the decorating began: paint was employed as a surface treatment and then the search began for just the right thing to use for finer details, in this case, wire for wings, antennae and stinger. The final touch for this sculpture was to add a string so the bee could be installed in the artist's bedroom when it gets home.

The Marvelous Thing

Work in Progress by "M" Grade 8

What I know:

It started out as grey cardboard strips, woven together into an elegant mat.

It was disassembled in order to paint the strips blue.

It was reassembled and then green strips were added too.

Blue and Green are the artist’s favorite colors.

It is held together by weaving and by string.

It can be rolled into a sculptural object.