QUESTIONS

I had several emails

 after featuring my 2nd Semester Art Wheel students 

and their Color Embossments,

 asking about how they printed their pieces.

So I came across these pix recently that might answer a few of the questions.

We use this Dick Blick printing press that I purchased about 25 years ago for the Art Dept. 

for about $500.  

It's a really great size, 

13 inches wide,

large enough to accommodate an 12" by 16"" plate.

The press came with the thick felt printing blankets.

I bought blotter papers and 100% cotton printmaking papers 

so that we get a very professional result 

(also from Dick Blick)

In the pix above assistant and alumni Josh Berger is watching over the students as they print 

to make sure they are following directions.

The students are initially intimidated by the press until after they give it a try.

After the print dries out (a couple minutes), 

the kids bring in whatever media they have learned to use during the 8 weeks of class.

Several of the students did mixed media this year which delighted me.

Above we see 7th grader Cameron Szendzial carefully watercoloring in his art piece.

Isn't he a cutie???

:)

And I don't think I ever showed you the whole 2nd Quarter Art Wheel Group.

Here they are in all their glory  LOL

Having too much FUN!!!

The Perfect Ending

COLOR EMBOSSMENTS

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 2ND QUARTER

cardboard, various textured yarns/rope, wire, seed & bugle beads, textured fabrics, embossing paper

w/ mixed media

What a way to go out. 

This was the perfect assignemtn to showcase all they had learned in their 8 weeks with me.

The kids learned to build a cardboard plate with various relief items,

then to put a piece of paper on top and send the whole thing thru our printing press.

After the print was dry they were able to choose from all the media they'd learned to work with

during our time together and bring that in on top of the embossed design.

The last part was to learn to sign their print and title it.

Several of the titles had me laughing out loud :)

The funniest was by Kenneth Lee called T Bone Steal on a Purple Plate in the Dark.

What a crack up!!!

Can you find it in the pix below? 

The entire class above

One of my favorites was done by Aditi Shah.

I was so impressed with her critical thinking by mixing her media.

She's used oil pastel, watercolor, india ink and a button.

Joshua Garcia has laid down a lovely wash of watercolor 

then surrounded his leaf with India ink in a zentangle design.

In Nature's Fury above, Nikolas Lam is doing a wonderful job as well,

 mixing his media with

watercolor, colored pencil and India ink.  

Are you wondering if they had to mix their media?

Nope, they only had to bring one in but I'm thrilled so many of them thought to use more.

Another favorite was The Cat at the Funeral by Jeffrey Hwang.

He's got the watercolor and India ink going on in a very pleasing way.

Charlotte Park, who has been featured multiple times on the blog,

gives us a very pretty piece with watercolor, colored pencil and India ink.

And Veronica Beak, 

also featured many times, 

is using watercolor, oil pastel, India ink and beads to compliment her embossed design.

You can also see her printing plate above with all the different items she has used to build it up with.

And my third favorite was this last one by Katelyn Chu.

Darling composition in which she has used watercolor, India ink, and beads to make it pop.

What a pleasure it was to teach this group of children.

And I look forward to many of them returning in the future for an art class with me.

Bye-bye Sweet 7th Graders

7TH GRADE EMBOSSMENTS

4TH QUARTER 7TH GRADERS

embossed paper with various media

Usually if there is enough time at the end of the quarter I like to bring out the printing press for the 7th graders.

They are fascinated and excited to try it out.

This time I gave them a subject matter to work to, a sun motif.

And like my Beginning 2-D students I suggest they bring in their favorite media to finish it off.

Wait till you see the clever ideas below.

7th graders are fearless!

This first one by Jaslyn was delightful.

She titled it Soaking the Rays.

She combined media by using watercolor and pen and ink and zentangled her sun's rays.

Sahana used pen and ink, watercolor, as well as pastel to pull together her colorful Undersea Paradise.

Of course Emma found a way to bring her cat into the subject, clever girl.

And I love that she thought to use paper collage, watercolor, pen and ink plus a bit of splatter

to highlight her Lazy Day.

In Lost at Sea, Chloe combines pastel and colored pencil seamlessly to show off the texture in her embossed areas. 

Sajan uses colored pencil with pen and ink in his joyful look at Life.

Kiana H. really shows off her skills with watercolor in this lovely landscape titled Hello Summertime.

And in A Day Gone By, Dylan uses watercolor, pen and ink, and charcoal to give us this fun and well thought out design.

I will miss all you 7th graders, all 117 of you, spread out during 4 quarters.

There are so many of you who really stood out artistically and I hope you will be back for more art classes.

And whether you come back for more or not, please stop by just to say Hello. 

Thank you for your enthusiasm and your courage.

You will be fondly remembered.

The Last Hurrah 2nd Quarter 7th Graders

PRINTMAKING

Embossment with Added Color

7th Grade Art Wheel-2nd Quarter

I haven't done this assignment in a few years because of the added furlough days when our District was in the red and we had less school days.  But this year we got a couple of them back, enough so that I was able to bring back this really fun assignment with the younguns.

We used an actual printing press that I bought years ago from Dick

Blick for $500 that's now selling for $2000 (can you believe that?)  

You can see below how the kids created a plate a top cardboard by gluing on various shapes.

I get the kids actual printmaking paper so these turn out well.

They learn to wet and blot their paper, then to place it on top of their plate and run it thru the press.

They love this assignment.

After the paper dries they come in with one or more of the various media they've learned to use.

One of my favorites was made by Melissa Aldana.  

She chose to color hers in with watercolor.

Next we have Denise De Guzman with her non-objective design.  

Certain buttons that don't stick up too high work really well for this process.

Another favorite was this one by Divya Cowgill.  

She titled this work "If My Heart Flew Away"

I love that she chose to use paper collage for her touch of color as well as oil pastel in the border and actually gluing on buttons in the finished piece.

Very clever girl!

Sweet Angela Mak did this very pretty rainbow that she calls "Peace, Love and Beauty".

And Minh Dinh gave us this enormous bug that he calls "If Insects Were Big".

Adorable!

Samuel Jon did this powerful Nike piece in vivid blue oil pastels.

And then Sara Ryave did this super cool work; creating so much movement thru the gluing down of rice, paper collage and beads.  

Love it!

And very talented Larissa Nguyen gives us this very sweet panda thru pen and ink and watercolor.

Brilliant!

"Life's Simple Pleasures"

Off for Spring Break

Before I leave for my annual Spring Break, I wanted to show you what 7th grader Melissa Lanto created for her 3rd quarter final (sorry for the out of focus quality). The assignment was Colored Embossment, and the kids built a plate from cardboard, wire and yarn scraps, along with seed beads and glue, then laid printing paper over top before we sent it through our printing press. Afterwards, the kids were required to add a bit of color. I had just taken them thru a color unit on oil pastels and watercolor. I think Melissa did a wonderful job designing her plate and applying her watercolor. By the way, I will not be posting from April 2 thru April 18 cuz hopefully I'll be having too much fun with my own kids as we enjoy our days off together. I feel another couple of road trips coming on. Stay tuned!

More 7th Grade Art Wheel - Color Embossments - Student Art

Wanted to show off my 7th graders final pieces for the quarter. We spent several days learning the basic techniques in watercolor and pastel. And then I introduced them to the very basic techniques involved in printmaking, and zeroed in on embossment. I had them build a plate from very dense cardboard as their base, then they glued on shapes, textures and lines using additional cardboard pieces, yarns, wire, screen, laces, low relief buttons, seed beads and anything else around the room that might work. I gave them thick, wonderful, cotton rag embossment paper, had them wet and blot it, then place it over their dried, glued down plate, and sent the whole thing through the printing press. It was so fun to see the delight on their faces when they saw their print for the 1st time. Then they had to choose from watercolor, colored pencil, or pastels to finish piece off with. Everyone's favorite belonged to Benjamin Domae (above). Another favorite belonged to Sharon Oh (below)

More of my favorites belonged to (above) Jada Gonzales and Raji Ganapathy and (below) Erica Abrina and Karen Malacon.

And these last two beauties were done by Kyung Yi and and Anna Lee (below). Can you believe these are just 7th graders doing art for the first time? I am so lucky to teach at this school. I count my blessings everyday for this wonderful job, and I also send thanks to my very wise mother, R. Patricia Foote, who I never really appreciated till it was too late. She encouraged, pushed and cajoled me to follow my dreams. She passed away 2 years ago in March after a brutal 10 year battle with Alzheimer's disease. Miss her so much. She would have loved Sharon's rose (above).

7th Grade Art Wheel Embossments-1st Quarter

I've been missing you guys from 1st quarter and wishing I could see all of you before we leave for winter break to wish you a Happy Holiday. So if you see this, drop on by tomorrow for a hug. This was the last assignment for the 1st quarter 7th graders. They designed a printing plate using cardboard, string, wires and anything else they found around the room that might work under the printing press without ripping the paper. Then they printed an embossment and had a choice with color media. They could bring in watercolor, pastel or colored pencil. It was a fun assignment for them because they really enjoyed working the printing press. Above we have Smruthi Maganti, Jihee Lee, Matthew Chou, and JuEun Lee. And the close up below belongs to Deborah Gordillo. Rock on little ones! I'm hearing great things about you from Ms. Improta.