A tale of an IAEA Student Chapter Roundtable Presentation.

[flickr id=”6463833451″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]

Before the IAEA Conference, my colleague in the Art Education MAT program, Keli Campbell, and I applied to present at the IAEA Student Chapter Roundtable. Our main interest and goal was to present a demonstration and lesson plan idea on Collagraph Printing.

[flickr id=”6463825895″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]

What is Collagraphy?

Collagraphy is a print-making process where various materials are glued to a hardboard to create a raised texture. The collaged collagraph plate can then be printed with a press or by hand with a roller.

[flickr id=”6463828383″ thumbnail=”medium_640″ overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”center”]

A few examples of various materials that can be used for Collagraph textures are: leaves, seeds, string (hemp), acrylic paint, crushed paper, bubble rap, sandpaper, cardboard, grass, and many others.

[flickr id=”6463831421″ thumbnail=”medium_640″ overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]

After explaining what a collagraph is and demonstrating the technique of how to create a collagraph print, Keli and I then discussed our plans for using this technique in a lesson when we student teach in the Spring of 2012.

[flickr id=”6463832801″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]

The Collagraph Lesson will integrate science with art, focusing on how animals and insects use camouflage (the collagraph print) to survive in their environment.  Students will create a texture or pattern of an imaginary animal or insect skin using the collagraph print.

The essential questions for this particular lesson are: What is the function of pattern in nature? As artists, what can we learn from patterns found in nature?

At the Elementary Level students will create a texture or pattern of an imaginary animal or insect skin on the collagraph. After students have created their imaginary animal or insect, they will draw a habitat for the imagined animal showing how the collagraph pattern blends in with the environment.

A Secondary Level adaptation of this lesson would be to have the middle/high school students focus on production of a modular texture to create a continuous pattern print.

A great topic that can be discussed in this lesson is the concept of reusing or re-purposing recyclable and non-recyclable materials in art.  Therefore, addressing the topic of being GREEN and that something that may be considered garbage to one person can actually be used to create work of arts.

[flickr id=”6463834165″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]