After School Kids' Printmaking Classes
So I have been putting aside my own art projects and been busy preparing for after school Printmaking classes for kids. I had tried pre-Covid to teach printmaking at my children's primary school as a volunteer, but was denied as soon as I mentioned carving tools. I was surprised, since in Japan, they teach how to carve wood in 4th or 5th grade. I knew that I wanted to somehow expose the children to the fun of printmaking.
Printmaking, unlike drawing or painting, it is a category of art-making that crosses with craft and science. It can be very experimental if you want it to be, and has endless possibilities. I find myself thinking most of the time to solve problems when I am involved in any of the printmaking process. I am no psychologist, but I believe that it can be hugely beneficial for children's growing brain and learning new skills: hand-eye coordination, planning, imagining, problem solving, experimenting, etc, while learning to be patient! Some printmaking techniques will produce quick satisfactory results, most won't. And of course, art is a great tool to cope with stress.
MY CLASSES
I will initially be teaching 2 age groups. Ages 4-6, preschool age group will have fun with chalk printing, jelly printing, tangram stamping, cyanotype, and other forms of easy printmaking methods. Ages 7-12, primary school age group will discover the fun of experimentation with printmaking, with cardboard relief printing, drypoint with pasta maker press, cyanotype, jelly printing, lino and woodblock printing, kitchen litho, and others.
I am planning to provide another class for a 3rd group, 11-18, in which I will show them how to plan for a print, and how to use carving tools.
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