Contextual Background:
The Foundation course has recently gained access to the Lime Grove Printmaking studio, prompting me to revisit a project that would benefit from screen-printing as a medium. For illustration students, inducting them into screen-printing would broaden the technical toolkit they have for future, more independent work. Moreover, introducing them to the print facilities and print technicians will make them gain confidence to seek them out on their own. It was important that students had hands on experience with the medium.
‘The benefit of an in-class activity is the same as demonstrations, in that it increases attention and students are able to see a phenomena unfold, but are also able to personally manipulate and practice using that phenomena in a first-hand environment’ (Forsyth, 2003).
Evaluation:
The workshop successfully inducted 64 illustration students into screenprinting with varied results, opening the option for some of them to return in their own time. The process used was a 2 colour, paper stencil, A2 print. Each student created an image that was split into 2 colour layers and worked in pairs to print.
Working closely with the 2 technicians was key to iron out the logistics of the workshops, especially determining the size of the printable area, the amount of students that could be in the print studio at a time and what colours where available to use.
Moving forwards:
For future print projects, there are a few technical and exploratory things to consider. After the workshop and speaking to students and technicians I would like to implement or test the following:
1.Aranging students in more efficient groups in advance: Grouping students by colour would provide a smoother workflow, cutting the waiting time and allowing for cleaning and drying time of screens. This includes pairing up students before arriving in the studio and explicitly asking them to pair with someone that has the same colour palette (not with just a friend!).
2. Allowing students to use screenprinting in a more exploratory way: this workshop focused on the technical aspect of the technique, which is needed for beginner learners, but i would like for some students to take the lead in future work. In his paper “Aesthetic learning about, in, with and through the arts” Lars Lindstrom talks about ‘convergent’ and ‘divergent’ learning. If convergent learning is goal oriented (induction screenprinting workshop) and divergent learning is explorative and intuitive, it would be of interest to me to push students to use print as a divergent way of learning, where they combine what they have learned with their own ambitions to realise their projects.
“The strategy is convergent if the goal is to achieve something that is given in advance; it is divergent if the goal is rather to combine what you know for new purposes” (Lindstrom, 2012)
3. Trying facilities myself by arranging time with technicians: If time allowed, I would like to explore what the print studio can offer without thinking about relaying knowledge back to students just yet. We often forget that staff development is an important aspect of teaching and that updating our knowledge benefits everyone.
References:
Lindstrom, L. (2012) ‘Aesthetic Learning About, In, With and Through the Arts: A Curriculum Study, pp. 166–178.
Hackathorn, J. (2011) ‘Learning by Doing: An Empirical Study of Active Teaching Techniques’, The Journal of Effective Teaching, pp. 45 – 60
Forsyth, D. R. (2003). The professor’s guide to teaching: Psychological principles and practices. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.