EXPLORING LINES – Relief Printmaking

Students will be able to:

• create a variety of lines using simple relief prints;
• explore a variety of ways to use colour;
• build on their own and others’ discoveries to generate new ideas;
• explain their process; 
• express opinions about the works.

Have students:

• use the lesson plans available on this website to create artworks using the ideas they have learned. For example,
  Book in a Box
  Making an Edition of Prints
  Mini Journal
• share their work with others.

1. Place students into small groups so they can share materials.
2. Gather plastic placemats one for each student.
3. Gather a variety of objects such as small paper cups, cardboard strips, foam pieces, textured objects and corks.
4. Tape string to a rolling pin.
5. Place the objects into bins for easy distribution.
6. Download and display the Line and Colour posters available on this website.
   Teach or review:
   - Colour -  primary and secondary colours
   - Line - Direction - diagonal, vertical, horizontal, curved; Width - thick, thin, heavy, light, big, small; Length - long, short; Focus - sharp, distinct, blurry, fuzzy; Texture - bumpy, smooth, jagged. broken, dotted

1. Introduce the idea of printmaking to students by talking about what happens when they walk through a puddle and then onto dry ground.
   - The marks their shoes make are prints – relief prints.
2. Ask what other types of prints students might know about.
3. Explain that there are many different ways to make prints and relief prints can be made with many different kinds of materials.
4. They all produce many copies of the same image. 
5. Discuss the element of line and characteristics of lines, for example, direction, width, length, focus and texture.
6. Explain that today's lesson is a workshop to explore how to make a variety of lines with relief prints.
7. It's for experimenting and trying out ideas to see what happens.
8. Introduce the challenge.

1. Place students into small groups. 
2. Ask them to: 
   -  Describe the kinds of lines they see in the prints, e.g.,
      Direction - diagonal, vertical, horizontal, curved
      Width - thick, thin, heavy, light, big, small
      Length - long, short
      Focus - sharp, distinct, blurry, fuzzy
      Texture - bumpy, smooth, jagged. broken, dotted
   - Compare their work and describe to each other what they did to get certain effects.
   - Consider how doing these experiments might help them if they were creating another type of artwork.
   - Talk about what was difficult and what was easy for them.
3. Share ideas with the whole class. 
4. Ask them to tell how they felt about doing this activity.

1. Observe students as they work – thoughtful focus, discriminating, seeking more information, elaborating, experimenting.
2. Observe students as they discuss their artworks – speaks with a clear voice, looks at audience while speaking, points to areas in the artwork, provides accurate information, answers questions from the audience effectively.
3. Observe students as they listen – looks at presenter, asks effective questions, supports ideas with evidence found in the artwork.
4. Use a checklist to track progress. (Downloads - LINE_tracking.sheet.pdf)
5. Have students reflect on their own artworks in their sketchbooks/journals. Ask students to write: 
   What did you see someone trying that you tried too?
   What do you like best about the prints you made?
   What surprised you as you worked with different materials?
   What do the marks remind you of? Why?
   How could you use these ideas in another artwork?