[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Sunday, 20 September 1998 Volume 04 : Number 287 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: mkrieger@mb.sympatico.ca Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 09:04:47 -0500 Subject: [Baren 1731] Re: Why teach printmaking? Kim Medina wrote: >I am most concerned with whether or not printmaking should be taught at all.... to >students K-12 and university levels. Why should students learn about printmaking, >especially in this age of technology? Why teach printmaking in schools and universities? Teaching specific subjects whether its algebra or printmaking, generally has two types of justification. One is that you will need this information when you are out in the 'real world'. For example, math skills enable people to understand their bank statement. The second explanation argues that something inherent in the teaching of the subject enables students to learn ways of learning or thinking about the world. Printmaking has some real world advantages. If a person learns how to make prints, they can make prints. Perhaps this is the advantage you see diminished by new technologies. Someone is unlikely to go to the work of making a print to advertise their garage sale when they could print off as many signs as they want from their computer printer. There are still some objects that will not go through a computer printer so that printmaking maintains some real world validity. The stencilling of floors and walls that has experienced a recent revival is a printmaking technique and silkscreening is still the method of choice for producing t-shirts celebrating your favorite cause. The stronger argument for teaching printmaking is the contribution it makes to the ability of students to learn and understand new skills. Printmaking enables students to experience an indirect method of working. When making a block, the artist has to predict how changes in the block will change the final print. The exact effect is not known until the block is printed. Based on the new information from the print, the artist revises the block and prints again. This is the "scientific method" embodied in an expressive art. It also models a good life skill - - your actions have a direct effect on outcomes and you can achieve success by modifying your actions based on previous experience. There are more examples of this type of skill building but this post is pretty long already. The traditional methods of printmaking (woodcut, intaglio, stone lithography and silkscreen) have all been used over time as commercial printing methods. The present day commercial and high tech methods are identical in principle to those in the traditional techniques. Get the ink on the paper in a particular predetermined form and repeat it as many times as possible. One could argue that today's schools have incorporated printmaking into almost every faculty and subject by expecting their students to use computers to generate all their printed assignments. Every public or private school with a computer lab has set up their own little printshop. (Printmaking is impossible to stop.) My final thought for this post is a more personal and perhaps emotional reason. Printmaking has given me such interesting experiences and continues to challenge me the longer I explore it that I wish to have others able to do the same. The shock of recognition on the face of a student when they pull the first print from their first block and find out that the image really is backwards is the same whether they are in Grade 1 or first year University. Printmaking continues to offer society something worth having and I hope that it continues to be taught and adopted by new artists in the future. Mary Krieger http://www.mts.net/~mkrieger ------------------------------ From: Gary Luedtke Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 12:25:35 -0400 Subject: [Baren 1732] Re: Why teach printmaking? Mary, Quite a nice statement. Gary Luedtke ------------------------------ From: "Don S Rich" Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 09:26:51 -0700 Subject: [Baren 1733] should we teach printmaking Dear Kim, You are receiving a lot of ideas about why we should teach printmaking. Here is my experience. I have been creating art my entire life, beginning with crayons and fingerpaint. I realized art would be a career for me in grade school. It wasn't until I discovered printmaking in college however that I really understood what it was to be an artist. With printmaking I learned that I needed a plan, a composition. To create one I had to have an idea or image I wanted to communicate. I learned that once I had a composition it had to be executed with care and forethought, that each mark on the final print would be there because I put it there. It was intended, considered, concrete. Not a vague idea or happy accident. The planning and forethought were what made it my unique expression. As for teaching, I have had occasions to teach multiple color woodblock printing to children as young as 7 years old. Real wood, real tools. They come into my studio believing they can't do it. So we start, and I show them that they can. They draw, they carve, they print, then they do it again and again. Their prints are wonderful. Their parents are amazed. These children have really accomplished something and they are proud of themselves. I am told my class (offered though the counties Cultural Council) is the most popular and asked for of the dozens offered. Students call asking if they can take it again. The point is that they have learned about printmaking but also about themselves. That they are creative and that they can solve difficult problems and learn difficult skills and that it is more fun that work to do it. Is it worth teaching, yes. Andrea Rich ------------------------------ From: April Vollmer/John Yamaguchi Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 17:59:24 -0400 Subject: [Baren 1734] Re: Baren Digest V4 #286 Kim: I've always wanted to attend one of those Southern Printmaking conferences...where will it be this year? And when? I have lots of opinions about why printmaking is so important to teach...mainly because it gives a clear forum for talking about technique. You can't talk about 'meaning' in the abstract! Printing gives a structure to how to create an image and how to talk about creation that kids especially need. I need it myself! Good luck with your talk! I love David's description of a really successful way to integrate printing with community and education. It sounds like great fun. Carolyn, I have to agree, the "can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em" jokes are sort of old! Women aren't harder to understand than anybody else! James, I'd love to see your shows, but life is too full. Ditto Matthew, sorry to miss your Bleeker Street booth! Good luck! My fall is especially busy because I'm going to Virginia for a couple of weeks. I do think it's great for baren members to meet...love the internet, but it's not as good as real life. People (and prints) are more vivid in person! And I want a copy of Bill Ritchie's book! April Vollmer ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 07:23:34 +0900 Subject: [Baren 1735] Teaching printmaking Gary wrote, in reference to Mary Krieger's post last night on teaching printmaking: > Quite a nice statement. I'm sorry Gary, but I disagree. That was I think, the best posting that has ever been sent to this forum. I've put a 'transcript' of this valuable thread into a new section in the Encyclopedia. http://www.woodblock.com/encyclopedia/updates.html *** This might also be a good opportunity to pass on a couple of facts ... The Encyclopedia had its busiest day ever yesterday, with 107 people visiting, and 732 pages being sent out. I would suspect that the recent increases are perhaps due to it being September, with college students all over the country busy getting familiar with the internet, and looking for possible sources of information for their research ... Dave B. ------------------------------ From: Daniel Kelly Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 20:26:09 +0000 Subject: [Baren 1736] Re: Books and essays Hi David Yesterday I made a page with some of my works. http://www.vowel.or.jp/~daniel/ Check it out. Its partly woodblock, D ------------------------------ From: Daniel Kelly Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 20:45:26 +0000 Subject: [Baren 1737] Re: Books and essays THANK YOU DAVID : for posting that. I just want to say that I went to the page and noticed the size of the Red Bowl wood block print (2m x 150 cm.) is missing. I do believe it is the largest. Toshi's big bird was about 1 M. (or so ) by 150 cm. as far as I know. Also I'm sorry there are 3 copies of one painting. D ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V4 #287 ***************************