Plant Knowledge - Paint Prints
SCHOOL PROGRAM LESSON PLAN – K to 3
Plant Knowledge - Paint Prints
Final Project Description:
Contact monoprints made with acrylic paint on paper. Q-tips and toothpicks will be used to draw into a painted surface and pulled off by placing paper onto the finished design. The image will appear backwards on rag paper as a negative with paint acting as a colourful ground.
Description:
Students will learn about an iconic plant of the Kamloops area – the birch tree – and draw its major features using simple shapes. They will learn how to write the names of this plant in both English and Secwepemctsin and pull simple prints depicting this plant’s basic features. Traditional, local uses of these plants will be discussed to emphasize that plant knowledge is vast, with multiple uses identified for this one species and its diverse parts.
Theory:
Students will (taken from the BC Curriculum PLOs):
- create images using that feature colour, line and shape
- create 2 D images that represent ideas and concepts
- apply a variety of processes to create images
- use the principle of pattern
- describe various purposes of visual art
- identify characteristics of different environments
- describe how plants are important in the lives of people in BC
Creation & Analysis:
Review George Raab’s work. His prints “place” the viewer in the woods inside the Gallery space. We use our imaginations to think about his imagery of the woods and compare it to our real life experiences of being in treed space. When we can’t see something right in front of us, it’s hard to remember that it’s there and that it’s important, especially if we don’t spend much time outside. Raab’s prints remind us that we have a connection to forests and the Gallery offers us a quiet place to think about forests in a focused way, even if we’re not standing in one.
Secwepemc people have used plants for millennia for all kinds of things. The plant we’re using as an example has special properties that are useful for food, culture and medicine. This gives it significant value and collecting from it places people in the forest, where they are in direct contact with these amazing and complex living things. Protecting our forests becomes obvious when we understand the uses that plants can provide us and their importance to local people. Collecting in a responsible way is also important to make sure plants are respected and able to reproduce again next year. Taking too much will make things unbalanced.
Introduce the activity. *Put names on papers! We are going to learn about a special plant that most students can recognize as being an icon of the Kamloops area. This plant gives our forests and grasslands their particular appearance. This plant has specific uses that Secwepemc people discovered. We will draw this plant using simple shapes and pull contact prints to illustrate them. We will learn about its local uses and learn its name in English and Secwepemcstin.
Introduce the plant. Have students paint their board or plexi with a variety of brushes, explaining that this will be the ground of their print. Explain colour mixing and techniques for applying colour. Use two primary colour to explain colour mixing. Have students ink one side of the ground with one colour and the other with a colour that will mix, overlapping their application in the ground’s centre so they create a third colour. Use the colour wheels. Add retarder to the paint to slow drying time. Explain that their drawing will be the white of the paper after paint is removed with q-tips to reveal the plant image. Lead the class through a simple illustration on the blackboard of how to draw each part of the plant using simple shapes. Reference handouts will help. Show students how to pull their print by contacting the paper to the wet paint. The paint sticks to the paper with the removed, drawn part creating the image on the paper. Explain why the image is reversed.
Have students reapply paint explaining how to keep colours from muddying – you can apply the paint in stages to illustrate colour mixing rather than have them try right away and have everything end up brown. Don’t wash between prints, just apply more paint, draw the use of the plant in simple shapes after helping with an example on the board and then pull the compliment print.
Language portion: This workshop will be co-taught with Tania Willard, with research assistance from Kathy Manuel, Secwepemc Cultural Education Society Educator, Language Department. Kathy has assisted with selecting an appropriate local plant and identifying its many uses in Secwepemculecw. Tania will assist with the language portion, helping us learn correct pronunciation and writing skills and communicating the information Kathy has prepared. Art Instructors will learn with the class and assist with the hands on printmaking aspect of the workshop, collaborating with Tania.
Review – what did they learn? What were they surprised by? Do they understand how colours mix to produce other colours? Review how to pronounce English and Secwepemcstin plant names. Explain pronunciation and letters and practice with the class. Print outs of other interior plants will be available for further reference, taken from a book recommended by Tania.
Prints will need to dry on the drying racks and may curl. Have a bit of discussion about the results.
Duration:
60 minutes in the studio – 10 mins on approach, 15 mins on colour mixing and application, 15 mins drawing, 15 pulling prints, 5 mins for wrap up and discussion or look at other’s work to end class.
Materials:
Stonehenge paper cut to size of ground
Practice rough paper for sketching or test prints
Mason board or plexi for painting on
Various brushes
Acrylic paint in primaries, black and white
Q-tips, toothpicks, other mark making tools
Instructional hand outs and language handouts
Palette knives
Retarder
Optional: brayers
T-shirts
Look & Discuss:
Relate the activity back to the works in the exhibition. Does this activity help students understand Raab’s work and make them aware of the importance and function of forest plant species? Why should we protect these plants? What other functions do they have (cycling air and water, homes for animals, aesthetically pleasing, food for insects, prevent erosion, etc.)
Prep:
-Have plexi or mason board grounds out
-Have paint palettes, brushes, colour wheels, paint and tools out
-Organize a drying area away from the main teaching area for wet, finished works – AGAIN, MAKE SURE KIDS HAVE PUT THEIR NAMES ON THEIR WORK FIRST THING
-Set out precut paper and extra
-Have enough handouts photocopied
-Make sure blackboard is clean to start
Take it further:
Ask students to look at each other’s work at the end of class to see how other students approached their project. How are they similar? How are they different? How has this activity made them consider their surroundings? What kinds of things do artists pay attention to and why might they do this? Ask some prompting questions and get kids to share their ideas. Will they recognize this plant the next time they see them? What did they learn about culture and language?