ALEXANDER CALDERPrintmaking

ALEXANDER CALDERPRINTMAKING

Back in November we learned a little about the artist, Alexander Calder and his Flamingo sculpture in downtown Chicago – raise your hand if you remember this.

Remember that sculptures are 3-D, they take up space and have three dimensions; height, width, and depth.

ALEXANDER CALDERPRINTMAKING

Artists often create art in many different mediums – medium means the materials and methods used to create art – and today we are going to look at some of Calder’s 2-D artworks (flat)!

Take a look at this piece –

• It is called, Alphabet and Serpent, 1968

• This is an example of Calder’s lesser known works in printmaking

• Printmaking is using a tool dipped into ink or paint and touched to the paper to

leave a "print". Kind of like leaving your finger prints on the windows, or footprints

in the wet sand

• Notice the geometric shapes and bold colors

• Raise your hand if you see any shapes overlapping…

ALEXANDER CALDERPRINTMAKING

Here is another of Calder’s printmaking pieces called, Composition with Circles & Tubes, 1970

• Notice the use of mostly primary colors – red, blue, and yellow – we sometimes call those our superhero colors

• Again notice the geometric shapes – circles, rectangles, and even hexagons!

• Raise your hand if you see any empty space…

• Funny thing about Calder is he first went to college to be an engineer! Then he decided to become an artist…

ALEXANDER CALDERPRINTMAKING

So today we are going to work on creating our own printmaking design using recycled materials.

There are so many things we can do with items that we don’t need anymore, and here’s a little story that shows some great examples of this!

ALEXANDER CALDERPRINTMAKING

So in honor of Earth Day (and every day) we are using recycled objects in our printmaking!

• First, I put on my art smock, roll up my sleeves, and write my name on my paper

• Watch me while I demonstrate how to make a print onto my paper using a couple of our different recycled materials.

First I dip my object into one of my primary colors Second, I print my object onto the PAINT PLATE 1-2 times until the drippy, excess paint has

come off Third, I print my object onto my paper to create a design

• My goal is to use the whole page, different objects, multiple colors, and even repeated prints.

• Watch how I can repeat a print on the paper, make my prints overlap, and leave some space empty

• Let’s look at how we can create a print with multiple colors at once using one of our longer objects…see how I put one end in the blue, the other in yellow, and the middle gets a little of blue AND yellow – the middle creates our secondary color, green!

ALEXANDER CALDERPRINTMAKING

Now it is your turn!

• First, put your art smock on, roll up your sleeves, write your name on your paper

• Second, use the paint combinations on your table with the recycled materials to print onto your paper – don’t forget to print onto your PAINT PLATE first to get the drippy excess paint off!!!

• Next, have fun, be creative try and do the following while you print• Repeat a print• Create a secondary color using two of the primary color plates• Leave some empty space and overlap to create and interesting design

• Done? Raise your hand to try another print – put your name on it!

• Once you are finished with two prints, choose one of the prints to glue onto a piece of construction paper as your frame

ALEXANDER CALDERPRINTMAKING

Let’s review what we learned today:

• Medium is the materials and methods used to create art

• Printmaking is using a tool dipped into ink or paint and touched to the paper to leave a "print“

• Primary colors are red, blue, and yellow – we sometimes call those our superhero colors

• We make secondary colors by mixing two primary colors together

ALEXANDER CALDERPRINTMAKING

Discussion questions:

• What does medium mean?

• What type of medium did we use to create our art today?

• What is printmaking?

• Is printmaking an example of Calder's 3-D or 2-D artworks?

• What is the special name we call red, yellow, and blue?

• Why do we print on our paint plate 1-2 times before we print on our paper?

• Did you like this method of creating art?

• What would you call your piece?

• Which piece did you choose to frame and why?