Printmaking & Art Appreciation

This semester my art appreciation course at Northwest Vista College created art in various media including drawing, painting and photography.  We began the semester studying the history of drawing, from Paleolithic caves to the present.  The first studio project was an introduction to linear drawing techniques; students experimented with blind contour before learning general proportion rules for sketching faces from observation.  To bring that lesson full circle at the end of the semester, they drew a self-portrait that would become a relief print. After looking at a few modern portraits by Vincent van Gogh, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Frida Kahlo, it was on to the final studio project. Images were transferred to linoleum blocks, reinforced with sharpie and carved by hand.  It was interesting to see how their line quality changed with the medium. Each student printed a small edition on 3 x 4" rice paper.  Great work!