On the Line
Louise Heilpern – Visual Arts Teacher
On the Line – printmaking
Printmaking is a medium often explored throughout our Visual Arts learning from Primary to High School.
With techniques taught as early as Year 2, students obtain an excellent grounding in the foundation skills, techniques and applications that printmaking provides for the young artist.
While etchings and scratch foam prints are fine examples of intaligo printmaking, where a design is incised or engraved into a material, students also have experience with relief printing using linocut. In this instance, the design is cut away from the surface of a plate and all that remains of the original surface is the design to be printed.
Year 2 – Portraiture – Scratch Foam prints
With a focus on portraiture, students sit in a large circle and draw the back of the child’s head sitting in front of them. Focus is on controlled use of line and patterning effects used by repetition. The figure is then redrawn onto foam that is rolled with ink and pressed onto paper using a hand-held roller. The paper is rolled away and the image is revealed!
In Year 4, these foundation skills are then extended with access to our specialist printing presses. We utilise the generosity of parents to enable our classes to experience first-hand, the wonders of etching and how beautiful imagery can be obtained from this technique made famous by Albrecht Durer in the 1500s.
Year 4 – Tree of Life etchings
Students study the motifs associated with the Tree of Life, derived from the Old Testament. Inspired by the abstract imagery of the Australian painter John Coburn (1925-2006), students have drawn their own version of a Tree of Life, incorporating symbols that express the beauty of nature. Students engrave their images onto acetate etching plates and later print their designs onto rag paper using a printing press. Many of the students’ motifs go beyond the biblical “tree” and they use the tree symbol to speak about peace and the environment.
In High School, students reconnect with printmaking in a variety of ways. From relief printing expressionist portraits in Year 7, to cyanotype as well as a range of digital and 3D printing in elective programs. The specialist printmaking skills that students pick up throughout their learning culminate in the Year 9 Visual Arts program ‘Chimera’.
Year 9 – Chimera etchings
Chimeras can be found in legends, fairy tales and modern fables. They are often mythical creatures made of multiple animal parts that contain a special power or spiritual significance. Initially, students create their chimera using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Students draw their completed designs onto resin coated aluminium etching plates using a drypoint needle. The plates are then seeped in ferric chloride; a mild acid that “bites” into the engraved lines, creating visible marks. Students used repeated lines and patterning effects to suggest multiple textures and to enhance a sense of three dimensionality in their creature. Each student completes a small edition of prints using an etching press. Ideally, each print in an edition is identical. Fastidious and uniform technical skills enable the students to create a clean and perfectly aligned print.
