Animal Collages and Rubbings: Family Workshop

Overview

In this activity, you will make collages and rubbings of different animals.

Grade Level

All

Media

Collage, Printmaking

Teaching Guide
Teaching Tools

Materials and Tools

Collage:

Sample collage
Scissors
Glue sticks

Rubbings:

Sample rubbings
Paper to make rubbings
Newspaper/scrap paper
Oil pastels or crayons
Textured objects
Rubbing plates (optional)
Rubbing Craft by Cecily Barth Firestein (optional)

Objectives

Families will explore techniques for making a collage, including cutting, arranging, and gluing.
Families will explore techniques for making a rubbing, including varying pressure and experimenting with color and texture combinations.
Families will understand that they can use any found or household objects to make a rubbing.
Families will be able to use collage and rubbing in combination to create an artwork.

Activities

Collage of Animal

Introduction/Overview (5 minutes)

What is a collage?

A collage is a kind of art made with cut paper and glue.

Engagement/Demonstration (5 minutes)

How can we make a collage of an imaginary animal? We can combine features from different animals. Look at reference images of animals for inspiration.

What are some features we can combine? What shapes are those features?

Demonstrate or try collage basics:

“drawing” with scissors
cutting large and small shapes
trimming shapes
overlapping shapes
arranging shapes before gluing
gluing large shapes first, then small, then details

You can:

make an animal of your own
work together as a family to make a collage with multiple animals on one background paper
tear paper instead of cutting to make shapes

Work Time (40 minutes)

Brainstorm an imaginary animal before cutting.
Use techniques to cut and glue imaginary animals onto background paper.

Clean up and Reflection (10 minutes)

Clean up paper scraps.

Reflection questions:

Can anyone find two collages that look very different?
What did the artists do differently? What did they do that is the same?
Do you see where someone used a technique that we learned?
Can you describe your imaginary animal?

Rubbings

Introduction/Overview (5 minutes)

What is a rubbing?

A rubbing is a kind of print that shows the texture of a surface. A rubbing is created by placing a piece of paper, or similar material, over the subject and then rubbing the paper with a pencil or drawing tool.

Engagement/Demonstration (5 minutes)

Rubbing basics:

place paper on top of textured surface
steady paper with one hand
draw with the side of crayon or oil pastel, moving back and forth across paper

Options:

vary pressure
try two color tones
try two textures on the same paper
rub in specific shapes to create a composition
make a rubbing of a collage

Work Time (40 min)

Explore making rubbings and trying extensions below.

Extensions:

Cut up your rubbing paper to create a collage.
Make a rubbing of the collage you created.

Clean up and Reflection (10 minutes)

Reflection questions:

What was surprising about making a rubbing?
Which textured object made your favorite rubbing? What do you like about that rubbing?
What are some things you have at home that you can make rubbings of?

Resources

Rubbing Craft by Cecily Barth Firestein

Credits

Written By:
Mikhaila Quezada and Brett Murphy, Artist Instructors