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Collagraph Animals

Overview

In this unit, students will explore observational drawing, collage, and collagraph printmaking. They will draw animals as inspiration for printing plates, produce individual prints, and collaborate on a mural.

Grade Level

K-5

Media

Printmaking, Drawing, Collage, Mural

Lessons In Unit

10

 

  • Teaching Guide
  • Teaching Tools

Lessons


Materials and Tools

  • Ebony pencils
  • Oil pastels
  • Drawing paper
  • Colored paper
  • Sketchbooks
  • Colored card stock
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Glue brushes
  • Block printing ink
  • Brayers

Objectives

In this unit, students will explore cutting, tearing, and arranging paper to make collages. They will learn that rolling ink onto a collaged surface and pressing it against paper can transfer a collage image to make a collagraph print.

Overview of Goals

  • Students will be able to experiment with cutting, tearing, and arranging paper.
  • Students will learn that the art technique of cutting and gluing paper is called collage.
  • Students will be able to create a collage that demonstrates manipulation of cut shapes to represent an imaginary subject.
  • Students will be able to observe and combine shapes to represent a subject.
  • Students will be able to roll ink onto a collaged surface with a brayer and transfer it to paper to make a print.
  • Students will be able to write narratives about their imaginary animals or insects.

Student Outcomes

Through an exploration of art materials and techniques, students will:

  • Exercise imagination, construct meaning, and depict their experiences.
  • Use basic art tools and gain knowledge of media and compositional elements.
  • Hone observational skills and discuss works of art.
  • Develop visual arts vocabulary to describe art making, the tools and techniques used to produce art, and the elements and principles of design.
  • Read and write about art to reinforce literacy skills.
  • Interpret artwork by providing evidence to support assertions.
  • Reflect on the process of making art.
  • Explore cutting, tearing, and gluing geometric shapes to make collages and prints.
  • Explore combining drawn shapes to create larger forms, such as animals and insects.
  • Print imaginary animals and insects using collagraph technique. 
  • Integrate collage elements to create individual prints and collaborative printed murals.

Resources

Photos of animals

Swimmy by Leo Lionni

Adaptations

For Multilingual Learners

  • Modeling
  • Use of home language
  • Pre-teaching vocabulary
  • Visual resources
  • Varied questions
  • Sentence starters
  • Multi-modality tasks
  • Collaborative tasks
  • Total physical response (TPR)
  • Language Experience Approach (LEA)

Credits

Written By:
Traci Talasco, Artist Instructor
Florence Gidez, Artist Instructor

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