Week 11 Response

First of all, I LOVE the Paul Klee printing technique. I have never seen anything like it. I love how it kind of takes away absolute power from the artist and results in something so beautiful and unique. The final product is exciting and is a surprise. The effect and texture it creates is gorgeous as well. I think students of all ages would love to try this technique. My only concern is the process of setting up and cleaning up the oil based ink it requires. I'm glad we're adding things like color to these prints. They are too cool and have too much potential to just stop at this first step. It's good we made the distinction between a painting and a print and were told to only use simple washes. I think this complemented the printing technique without distracting from it. I think it might be interesting to add small details at the end of the process in black pen or a fine black marker. This would allow the students to bring a bit of control into a process that by nature does not allow for control. Here is mine, then a table with a few others'.

I was not sold on the corrugated cardboard prints. Even the very best ones I found to be mediocre, and most were a disappointment. The ribbed texture was interesting but was not a bold enough statement, even when we varied the paper, color, and amount of ink used. The texture could instead be incorporated into a different technique to use it to its full potential. It could be used in the collograph prints, which I have always been a fan of. They're so simple and have such great results. I was actually surprised at how successful they were in the project because of how small the variation of thinnesses we used were. Here is mine. This is actually my second one. I liked it better with the one image overlapping, but I don't think it followed directions.

I did like the stickers made from our corrugated cardboard plates better than the actual print. This could be a really fun thing to make, especially with younger kids. One change I would definitly make is having the student make stickers then make prints. I was sitting around for a very long time waiting for my ink to dry before I could continue. The class began to slow way down while most people had finished but we were still supposed to be working.

We did several small activities that I think could help a student feel more responsible and more like a real artist or printmaker. The first one was when we first began the class we discussed who needed to do what task to continue from last week. When we figured that out each group of us went and set up our own stations. Also at the very end of our printmaking we were to sign, date, title, and number our prints as well as clean them up and tear the edges. This makes a student feel like they are creating actual art. I also learned at A/P means artists proof.