Image from final Critique

Here is my image from the final critique

Fri. Taste and Smell

After Thursday's day of studio, I came home thinking how much easier cutting my last block would be. We had all week to develope the images so by today we were ready to jump in and PRINT! The class has Jelled as a working group and the work just rolled off the press. Every print was beautiful and looked so professional.

The cutting of the blocks are too much for my elementary kids, and I would really have a problem giving them a cutter, but the whole block printing process is one that I can and will use in class. The kids could design the blocks in a small group and I can cut them and bring them back into class. They would be able to print and select the right colors and combination for their finished work.

Day 3: Collagraph - in color!

Our third day, inspired by the sense of hearing, began with the most amazing act of playing brass bowls from Nepal. I had never done this before and the experience was meditative. I hope I can purchase one for my classroom because I think this would really capture the interest of children.

My breakthrough today was credited to Bob. I was frustrated with the design of my plate from Day 2, because it felt too contrived. Bob suggested covering the plate except for small sections and then only working in that section. This worked so well for me. I had been intimidated by the big white plate (Twyla!) but breaking it down into smaller pieces enabled me to let go and not worry about the product. I love how my color collagraph prints turned out. Collaborating with other students forced me to further give up control of the product and allow for happy accidents.

Day 2: Collagraph

Let me just say that organizing the curriculum around the five senses was brilliant! I can see this concept being a unique was to organize my elementary art curriculum. I think it would be especially effective since young children are primarily sensorial learners. Educational philosophies, such as the Montessori method, focus exclusively on teaching students with sensorial lessons.

But I digress...Day 2 was filled with surprises, beginning with what was in our paper bags! I have done a similar lesson when I taught high school (learned it from MichelleT), the only difference is that one student had to describe it to another student and that student had to draw it. They loved it!

Creating a plate about the experience of touching the item in the bag was very creative and challenging. I liked using found materials and papers since my art budget is very tiny. :) I think this would be adaptable to elementary school now that Lindsay gave me some tips. Louise Nevelson could be a good artist to introduce since she used found objects in her art.

Thurs. Sound of the Bowl

There has been research on the combination of Music with Art and I see a grant possibility there. This more complicated printing method would be great for upper grades. The Singing bowls were wonderful for us and my really young students would be facinated and connect with the sound on paper the best.

Day 1: Frottage

Our first day of class was a blast! I thought mapping the enviornment via contour drawing was a unique and exciting opener for the class, and could be a great way to get kids out of the classroom and making art that is process oriented. The drawings were used to create frottage prints and learn the printing process. Not being certain of the results until the print was completed was exciting and I think my elementary students would really be engaged in this project.

Wed. things in a brown bag

There was wonderous thingies in our bags! Even after feeling in my bag I was still amazed at what it "looked "like. Translating the sensation of touch into a visual image was difficult for me so I assume it is tuff for our kids. They would love this challenge and then to "make " the object 2D....excellent way to introduce 2D/3D in the classroom.

Tues. outside around

I am always looking for ways to get my students up and outside. This method of data collection would keep even the most distractable student on task, and hone some of their observation skills that are so important for them to see art in nature. The printing would be another day's lesson .The material are user friendly and even the youngest students could have success in printing.

Tibetan Bowls

Keeping the brass bowls humming. Feeling the sound in order to translate it into a print. Great approach. I will try it with my pre-schoolers.

Patty, touch

This is approach to drawing with out seeing and recording one’s response to the feeling of touch is a liberating way to create. I can see it being utilized in an art therapy setting to help patients work through emotional and psychological issues. In the classroom it allows children to view art as more than what is representational and foster the creativity within to produce art with a deeper meaning.

Sense of sound Collagraph

The morning was amazing, the singing bowls set the tone quite literally for the packed studio session ahead. The smooth and efficient methods of Bob's masterful mind that we learned yesterday were put to use again today as we rubbed, rolled, wiped, placed, pulled and lifted image after image totally over 45 prints, a good days work out. Bob says the answer is in the studio... so more collaborations today and color, color and more color. I learned that my intrinsic palette is surely being pumped through my veins as it comes out even with severe limitations. I was extremely frustrated this afternoon by the process which requires me to give up total control. I see what a control freak I am( who me?!) As a painter I wanted to spend alot of time on "painting" the plate but needed to work in a timely fashion since others were waiting. I was trying to force the work instead of letting it go where it wanted to go. In the end I stayed late and pulled two more print quite quickly I might add and am now a happy camper, or rather printer.

collaboration print

Aluminum foil made an ascetically pleasing print on its own but in collaboration, it almost completely overpowered the form underneath. Voiding the effect in a collaboration defeats the purpose. In future collaborations, aluminum foil would not be an option. However, the foil on its own made for many different forms and ridges for ink to adhere to. Experimentation with foil on botanical subjects would be an avenue to pursue in botanical art. The plant could perhaps be flattened onto the foil, then printed. Whether or not, this could become a possible future exploration for my classes deserves some investigation.

first print

This simple line drawing print was quite effective for me in working with ink and line quality. The print is solely concerned with the beauty of line as composition. How the ink changed the original drawing made the marks come alive and take on an energetic quality. From this print, the beauty of line was carried into the next prints. In my teaching of botanical painting, frottage can become an excellent tool for use in the detail of the veins in a leaf and similar fine structural details. Printmaking would become an essential part of a botanical program.

Frottage Continued & Day 2: Collograph Monoprints

Frottage, Day 1

Andrea, Object Image, Touch

My goodness what a great process! This is the favorite so far. The steps to create this image were the success. I have written down the steps and how to adapt the process for my students. Press? Ink? Not sure yet...

Sense of Touch: Texture Collagraphs

I have had little experience with printmaking techniques. Working together with my classmates in the printmaking processes and the creation of art has helped me to learn so much. Bob's direction to make non-representational art in our projects has showed me that there are more artistic options than I thought. I can be more flexible with my own art and that, in turn, will allow me to push my students in directions beyond which they thought they could go.

Andrea, Sight

Drawing a quick sketch while walking on sideways on a line was a quick way to capture some wonderful line movement. After completing the first exercise and seeing the active results, I was anxious to complete more. I will be using this for my artwork on a regular basis.

This exercise is also doable in the high school art room. Any media can be used with this thinking process. Students can do the sketches and translate this other artworks. The printing process can be adapted to the studio classroom. Ex., there may not be a press available, and oil based inks might not work, however the technique could be experimented with other materials. Such as water-based inks using spoons to burnish the image onto the papers. The paper surface can be manipulated before transferring the print (collage of thin textures). My advanced classes will be experimenting with this in the fall. I will post the results.

Frottage

I am sure my students could do frottage (maybe not with the expensive Yupo paper and mylar), but I don't know how the logistics would work in a classroom full of 35 middle schoolers. I am wondering if I could set up temporary ink blocks to use throughout the day and then clean once at the end of last period. I'm thinking that plastic wrap would work to keep the ink fresh between classes. Any suggestions?

Sense of Sight Exercises

This exercise would be a great way to get started in an art course at the first of the year. I loved the freedom to draw quickly and keep moving while we drew. High school students would like it also, and it would help them to loosen up their expectations of what they were required to do in a drawing/studio art class. The frottage we used to make the prints from our drawings was a new technique for me. Given the right space, it could be taught to high school students as well.

Bob has really helped me to open up creatively; instead of being so concerned about realistic representation or even composition, he has given me the freedom to let my art make itself. He continues to recommend the process of using the work itself as a work surface, which in turn creates marks and literally the art is forming as a result of me working on it. It is fabulous! I can't wait to get back into my classroom and foster an environment of free creation and no fear of failure. Yes, there are certainly some answers that are better than others, and this class has not been a cake walk by any means. Each work was labor intensive and full of decisions, but they were quick, from-the-gut decisions.

collagraph

Today's printshop experience was phenomenal! learning how to set up, run the show and cleanup in an efficient intelligent manner was extremely useful, surely something I could see doing with my students if I had access to a press. The idea of collaboration with each other was amazing in practice. I am glad Bob made us do it because I would probably not have been too inclined to break out of my my own little world and do it if we didn't have too. The collaborative prints told me where to go with the inking of my next plate. In the end the process of pulling multiples that vary and change with each pull made for an exciting day full of surprises and teaching moments.

Sense of Sound, Singing Bowls

Singing Bowl (Sound) Monoprint

Mike, Juliet and Laurie

Kim and Natalie

I loved this exercise. What a great way to bring everyone together and to begin a morning's work. I think this would be a great way to integrate a lesson on the arts of Tibet or to bring music into an art lesson. I'm not sure how it would go over with my high school students. It could be very interesting for a group who knew each other well enough. I might need a little more practice before doing an effective demonstration, however. What a treat.

Thursday - Touch

I have used this exercise with young students before to help them understand texture. They have to come up with a list of texture words to describe the object and then draw it. You don't worry about the representation of the object, just how it feels to you. All of the work we have done this week has such a sense of freedom to it. It works so well to capture the essence of what we are sensing.

Frottage day I

Great start with immediate imagery secured through mapping on campus. Innovative 360 degrees approach I am sure to use with my older students. This quick record of rolling scenery gave us fast drawings to take back to the studio to print. The frottage method of monoprinting is simple, straight forward and openended, yeilding seductive drawing lines and scratchy dimension. The soft qualities of the lines leaves the composition with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Wednesday - Sound

The activity with the brass bowls drew me in. I was surprised by how absorbed I became in the sound and the interaction with the bowl. When we did the musical piece I especially appreciated when the sounds of the two bowls would begin to mesh together, that is what inspired my image. Adding color brought very unexpected results. Music is a great way to encourage creativity with students. We always play music in my classroom but I think I will be more intentional about using it in student work.

Talcing

That's what I'm Talcing about!
Just letting it happen day to day!

Meet, Bob the Magician!

Tuesday - Sight

Drawing the landscapes by just picking out the points of interest and continually moving was a very free way of drawing. The results were the very essence how we use our sight. The collaboration with other artists created images that could never have been planned. I enjoyed the subtle tones created by using the mylar.

Art 6933: Special Topics: “A Sense of Place”
Printmaking/ Exploring, Experiencing and Expressing for Art Teachers
Summer 2010: Instructor- Robert Mueller
Email: bmueller@ufl.edu, Office: FAC 317
July 27 (Monday) – July 31 (Saturday) class session is over by 4pm.
Note: The two required texts listed below should be read before the first day of class and bring them with you.

Course description:
This course will introduce you to the art of printmaking and inform you of the tools, materials, ideas, and teaching approaches required for the elementary through high school art instruction. This course depends upon seeing, doing and thinking—the studio practice. Demonstrations, exercises, fieldtrips, readings, presentations and guest artists will be used as motivation for exploration. Students will explore visual interpretations of the five senses. Your final prints will describe an allencompassing sense of your experience with us at the University of Florida.

Objectives:
- To develop a healthy and committed studio practice.
- To explore, experience and express image-making possibilities that engage the other senses.
- To develop your own visual philosophy, themes and a consistent body of work to assist in your artmaking and teaching.
- To enhance and develop those qualities to be able to better recognize, ponder and address the progress of your artwork.
- To be open and willing to take calculated risks in an effort to move your studio practice forward.

Requirements:
1. Preliminary in-class sketches/ Readings (20%)
2. A suite/series of finished fine art prints (70%)
3. Participation: The ability to work together with mutual respect and regard for the well-being of others. To follow safety procedures and studio etiquette at all times and to participate in a responsible manner in all aspects associated with creative endeavors; attitude, production, engagement, self-motivation and discussions. (10%)

Readings: (All readings may be found on Amazon.com)
- “A Natural History of the Senses” – Diane Ackerman, pub. Vintage. 1990
- “Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art” – Stephen Nachmanovitch. Pub. Penguin-Putnam. 1990

Materials to Bring:
Work clothes which also includes closed-toed work shoes, an apron, an art box for your tools, black drawing materials:5B-8B graphite pencils and/or sticks, compressed charcoal, vine charcoal, black markers, single-edged razor blades. erasers. Assortment of cheap paint brushes. A notebook and writing tool, bar of lava soap, hand cleaner, 18”x 24” newsprint pad, 4 rolls of Bounty Paper towel, 1” inch wide roll of masking tape, Q-tips.

All other materials covered in Lab Fees and are supplied by the studio Yupo paper, Rives BFK paper, single-sided mylar 24”x 36”, white sulphite drawing paper, pre-cut
linoleum, speedball lino-cut nibs with handles, metal spoons, Litho inks, brayers, rags, cleaning materials etc.

Grade Explanation:
A = Superlative work: careful attention to craft and presentation. Originality of idea and execution work together. Goes beyond merely solving the problem – one who performs at this level is visibly outstanding, work is outstanding in every respect.
B+ = Very fine work: almost superlative. A few minor changes could have been considered and executed to bring piece together. Again, goes beyond merely solving the problem.
B = Above average: solution to the problem and idea well planned. Execution is well done. This is an honorable grade.
C+ = A bit above average: slipping in levels of originality, craft and presentation. The piece does not work well as a unified whole or statement yet effort was made.
C = You have solved the problem: the requirements of the problem are met in a relatively routine way.
D+ = You have solved the problem but there is much room for improving your skills and developing your concepts further. You have neglected the basic craftsmanship skills and breadth and depth of idea development.
D = Inadequate work: the requirements of the problem are not addressed. The piece represents careless and/ or incomplete effort. Work is substandard.
E = Unacceptable work and effort

Academic Honesty policy:
Students are expected to abide by the UF Academic Honesty Policy, found on the World Wide Web at which defines an academic honesty offense as “act of lying, cheating, or selling academic information so that one can gain academic advantage.”

Students with Disabilities:
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to register with the Dean of Students Office and submit to this instructor the memorandum from that office concerning necessary accommodations. The ADA office (www.ada.ufl.edu) is located in room 232 Stadium (phone: 392-7056 TDD: 846-1046).

THE STUDIO PRACTICE OF SYNESTHESIA AND IMPROVISATION – FREE PLAY
We will explore, experience and express synesthesia, a completely natural human attribute that we use daily to negotiate our way through the physical world. All this means is that we transfer from one sense to another. Listening to a piece of music can conjure up a shape, a taste, a smell etc. We will be taking each one of the senses at a time to create a visual interpretation….a unique, individual visual philosophy exclusively of your own making. The free play (improvisational aspect) of actually creating an interpretation will happen in the studio….in the making of the work. As artists that is what we do….but on a more subconscious level. What may and can often happen is that we can experience unusual states of mind….states of mind which have no rational basis in reality. Each day will begin with a physiological experience….that will then during the rest of the day, expand into a moment by moment movement throughout the studio, manipulating….experimenting with materials, ideas, re-adjustments and calculated risks to create images that are far removed from the traditional….into the more exotic. My hope is that this approach to art making will inform your previous work and move your studio practice forward to surprising outcomes not imagined before. I see the mind as a muscle and once it’s been stretched it will rarely return to its original shape. I am looking forward to working with all of you.