Personal Symbols Printmaking

The 5th Graders looked at the traditional textile art of Adinkra Symbols from Ghana, Africa.  We talked about how symbols represent meaning and can often be very personal.  I encouraged the students to think of a symbol that represents themselves.  Some chose one of Adinkra symbols, while others chose symbols from our own American culture.  After they chose their symbol, each student carved the positive and negative out of EZ cut linoleum for printing.  They created their colorful borders with oil pastels. 

Pop Art Wild Things

The 2nd Grade students used Maurice Sendak's children's book, "Where The Wild Things Are" as inspiration for this project. After reading the story and creating a list of animal characteristics they observed in the Wild Things, students began to create their own. Students sketched four different Wild Things of their own and chose their favorite for their final artwork. After learning about the printmaking technique, students transferred their drawing to a Styrofoam printing block and made four, color prints. They then created beautiful and colorful “frame” patterns using construction paper crayons. These artworks POP with color!