Art classes in Berlin
The prompt for this project was either “Dear world…” or “Komm mit…” The kids could freely choose which one spoke to them more. From there, they had complete freedom to create a printing plate using a variety of materials. The only rule was technical – if some parts of the printing plate are higher than the others, the lower ones would not print. Otherwise this was an invitation to explore and experiment. Voilà!
This is an easy printing technique to use in a classroom. Rolling the paint on a plastic foil, placing it paint down on a printing paper and drawing with a sharp item on the back side of the foil, students will get one time results.
In our pyp unit “market places”, we are focusing on pop art and mass production. We printed with stencils. It was so busy I did not manage to get any photos done in the end but we were happy with the results.
Here we go again with beautiful printing. Again I love the printing plates more than the results. However this was fun as it always is.
We’ve made the printing plates out of various materials to leave various traces. We added all the colours at the same time. Because we don’t like to complicate.
Our PYP unit in Grade 3 was about markets and services. We spoke about fair trade and made graphic identity: logos, stamps and posters, for imaginary fair trade services children had chosen.
Printing is always amazing. So many Oh-s and Wow-s produced during a class. Also some Oh no-s, sure.
Kids made beautiful prints of The last supper. We couldn’t decide which were better, the actual prints or the matrix.
We used a kiss print technique for this. Very easy and lots of fun and messy moments. We’ve already made beautiful kiss prints in our sketch books to start ourselves properly.
We spoke about facial proportions and how to draw a face. What shape has an eye? Where does a nose start and end? Why is an upper lip darker than the lower one? Where do the ears come in, and last but not least, how does the hair grow from the top of our heads and not the opposite way?
Of course we will not stick to all of these because we aren’t rigid but we like to talk and think and understand. And if we can use some of it that’s just a great new adventure.
So eyes are beautiful but complicated to colour. Nose is strange but funny. Lips can look crooked, and teeth too. Hair is a science of various paints and a joy to paint (Brushes had to be invented to paint hair. Hand just relaxes and everything is easy – short, spiky, curly, straight… )
Skin comes in many shades, sometimes we are blue, sometimes we are pink, who cares.
And the t-shirts? Well the t-shirts are the best part of course. Glitter, dots, stripes and stars. And all of the paint and morning toothpaste stains.
A fantastic hour with minis. Houses, trees and the weather. They loved it!
Kids love printing. Printing and clay. If they won’t know the project ahead they will shout PRINTING!! or CLAY!!
So we did some block printing of folk birds and horses!!
Inspiration was a Marimekko designer Sanna Annukka. No really, more than her was Smallhandsbigart, where I saw lovely bird prints of children from another side of the planet.
