A is for Architecture, B is for Block Printing, C is for Colour

This term we opened up our eyes, big and wide, to look and see the environment surrounding our school.

Buildings!  They’re everywhere.  We live in a city after all.  Architecture is all around us, the design  element that makes our town so varied.  Houses all have similar features: doors, windows, roofs, walls…But, when we stop and take a closer look, we realise how different buildings have different functions.  Shops have display windows; fire stations have towers; offices have many windows and large entrances; hospitals have ambulance access and supermarkets have car parks.

We discussed the differences in our homes: apartments and houses.  How were our homes built?

There are so many different materials too.  The children all contributed to the conversation about what houses are made of.  Glass, wood, tiles, bricks, are but a few of the many ways our buildings are constructed.  So, we made our own constructions…collages of our homes!

We studied Paul Klee’s paintings of an ancient North African walled city, inspired by his 1928 travels in Tunis.  He was fascinated with Egypt and created numerous, varied works of art, with Egyptian origins.  We touched on the history of walled cities and how life flourished, protected by the boundary of the enveloping wall.

Technically, we began our introduction into Printmaking, by creating Print Plates, using styrofoam and brayers (soft rubber rollers).

Drawings and stamps were imprinted on the surface of the foam pieces, before the reverse image was transferred, using ink, onto damp paper.  These textures were achieved by using a combination of cookie cutters and other items from around the house, to make imprints and repeat patterns on the plate.

We looked at Hokusai, the greatest printmaker of Japanese Woodblock printing history.  We watched a short animation on his “performance art” and tried to understand how he created his great image, “the Wave”.

The class then progressed to build a printing plate using cut styrofoam shapes as blocks to construct a scene.  Here are some great results!

Once we had stuck our shapes onto our cardboard plates, we sponged on our coloured ink, being careful to keep the colours separate, for a clean composition.