This is a project I worked on when I was teaching middle school art. For the topic of Earth Day, we had a discussion about what it means to raise awareness and talked about what we could raise awareness about for Earth Day. The students' tasks were to research an endangered animal, create a drawing representing the animal they researched, and transform it into a collection of linoleum prints that they could hand out. I loved teaching this project and had some of the best work from my students come from this project. The image below is the print that I created for my exemplar.
Most of the students that I worked with have never heard of printmaking. I played off the concept that printmaking allows students to make multiple prints, which could be handed out to raise awareness. Students carved their drawings into either 4x8 in sheet of linoleum or rubber (I had both available in the classroom). For the final print, they had the option to print in color or in black. I chose black as it was the most visible across the classroom. We did not have a printing press available, so the students and I transferred our images by rubbing a large spoon along the paper after laying it across our stamps.
Students were required to create a drawing of their image before they were allowed to attempt carving a stamp. I considered incorporating the concept of death by adding skeletal features to the face. However, I eventually decided to use shading as a means to represent the animal fading from existence. One side of my drawing is dark and detailed while the other side is simplified with less black and more white taking over the image.
Coming from a background in design, I trained my students to expect to create at least three thumbnail sketches before they committed to a final drawing. I researched the bonobo for my endangered animal.
