Imaginary Insect Linocut Prints
I had a lovely change of scenery today. I brought my art equipment up to the Kaleidoscope Hub to set up the printmaking lesson for Mel’s class. It was great to get to work in the students’ classroom space and spread out in the lovely big learning area. I continued with this term’s theme of printmaking but stepped it up a notch by introducing the students to linocuts. The students loved the idea of working with this new medium and approached the challenge eagerly.
The students studied images of linocuts and familiarized themselves with different marks they could make with the lino cutters before beginning their pencil sketches. We talked about the fact that a pencil line is likely to be thinner than a line from a lino cutter. The students considered this as they drew their insect sketches.
After transferring their images onto the printing blocks the students began cutting the lino. This process was challenging and a bit daunting for some but everybody persevered and completed a printing block. The printing process was as expected - lots of fun and full of experimentation. The students played around with coloured inks and against different coloured paper. They also experimented with more than one ink on a single print. I loved being part of their discoveries.
The students chose two images to mount as part of a class display. They took the rest of their prints home, the favourite of which had been mounted. The students can be proud of their exceptional efforts today.
