Paint, Draw and Sculpt

Linoleum block prints

A great experiment with inking different colors on the same plate

fine lines and a nice positive/negative balance

A balance of image and text

A painstaking process to print clean lines

These patterns created using a grid. The grid can be scaled up or down depending on the level of concentration. Students chose a theme of their liking and created three simplified shapes associated with the theme. The patterns were a choice of regular, random and alternating. Materials are your basic paper and drawing/coloring mediums. The only extra material that we used that I highly recommend for future projects is carbon paper

Metal embossed cultural artifacts

This is a good project to go along with any type of printing project like linoleum block, since students are in the mode of working backwards and in reverse for printing projects.

Metal sheets come in a roll or pre-cut. I prefer the pre-cut sheets because the roll can dent and you have to roll out the sheets and cut with a pair of tin snips (regular scissor work but will dull quickly).

The metal types available are aluminium, brass or copper. Students prefer to use the aluminum sheets are they are softer and easier to press into(and aluminum is much cheaper than copper).Small drops of india ink can be added afer the image is pressed, this helps outline the image and can highlight textures and lines while giving a nice patina-type effect.

Students like the aged look of the ink on metal and their subject for this project was modern day "Cultural Artifacts"

THE WHITE BOARD

I use the white board for examples, diagrams and instructions on a daily basis. Staring at the glossy white surface and coming up with a daily drawing prompt can be a real challenge. I do keep a list of topics but most of the sketches are spur of the moment.

I tend to erase them the next morning without documenting them, but I am trying to change that habit....

Scratch Board "Emphasis"

Scratch board is a common art project and can be a challenge for students when trying to create their values in reverse. The subject matter for this particular project was a theme of a random choosing but the image must focus on a type of emphasis such as isolation, location and convergence. I highly recommend using the scratch board and not the scratch paper and the small wire scratch brush tools are great for texture, and implied values

Plaster figures

This project was developed by my student teacher, Joe Poore.

This is a good lesson to use when students have already worked on other sculptural forms like wire, so the armatures are easily created.

Aluminum wire is bend and posed in a position that gives a dynamic sense of movement. We had students draw strips of paper with an "action word" printed on them, this eliminates a class full of similar poses and challenge a student to pose a figure in something non traditional like "sneak" or "slap".

Sneaky Santa

Aluminum foil is then wrapped around the wire in large segments. aluminum is light and adds volume to the wire frame. Plaster mesh strips are cut into small segments and put around the foil. The plaster strips should be smoothed out when wet to eliminated the mesh look and it also helps it adhere to the foil.

Make sure you have students build some sort of platform for the legs. Balance will be an issue because the aluminum is lightweight but the plaster adds significant to it and if it was balanced at the foil stage, it may not be balanced at the plaster stage. Finished pieces can be painted with any kind of paint, we used acrylic.