Junior primary classroom art activities - monoprints and mix media

Recently I engaged a grade one/two split class at Hyde Park public school here in Thunder Bay in a two part activity that began with the students making basic monoprints onto paper.
A Monoprint is a one of a kind image that is transferred from one surface onto another. 



Wikipedia defines the form as: 

1. Monoprinting is a form of printmaking that has images or lines that can only be made once, unlike most printmaking, where there are multiple originals. There are many techniques of monoprinting. Examples of standard printmaking techniques which can be used to make monoprints include lithography, woodcut, and etching.

However this activity became more of a mix media project since the use of a paper mask to create negative shapes was implemented. Drawing, colour introduced using markers, pencil crayon and collage (cut/paste) were additional stages that added embellishment to the prints.

To begin students were asked to create shapes from construction paper and cut these out. These would serve as a masks placed over top of paintings to block out shapes that would be left as negative space from the white paper area left without paint covering it. 

painting the modified pigments onto the freezer paper plates and placing cut paper shapes over top

The next phase had each student paint modified acrylic and tempera paint onto a piece of plastic coated freezer paper.
A small amount of Createx monoprinting medium was mixed into the water based pigments and it was painted with brushes onto the plastic barrier surface.

The cut paper shapes were then placed on top of the wet paint. Heavier smooth surface 250 gm rag paper was placed over top and taped down to hold it steady. Students used both soft brayers to roll across the top and gentle pressing using the palms of their hands.

The paper was carefully lifted away from the painted sub-sheet with the paint and was allowed to dry.

For the next stage the students then worked into the open negative space areas with markers to add in elements that included animals, figures, etc.. Some of the young artists were even more adventurous and added in subtle elements of collage using glue and cut paper shapes or transparent tissues.

Teacher Susan Lieske assisting a young artist with his monoprint