Boy oh boy, did I love this project! I have always had a fondness for cityscapes, and printmaking is one of my favorite mediums, so when I came across the drawings of James Gulliver Hancock from his "All the Buildings in New York" project - I couldn't wait to get this plan written and underway. Check it out here - http://allthebuildingsinnewyork.com/new/ - "an attempt to draw all the buildings in New York by James Gulliver Hancock, an illustrator originally from Australia currently based in Brooklyn, New York."
My fourth graders began by looking at examples from the series, and sketching their favorite parts of the architecture in their sketchbooks, combining them in their own way to create a building design. Next we transferreed the designs onto foam printing plates, keeping in mind that things will print in reverse. Did you know there is a printmaking meme out there called "Printmaking Panda?" Here's a cute example - a fellow art teacher photoshopped this one to clean up the language a little:
Some early sketches:
Next, we each made 4 prints on a variety of colored papers using the students' choice of black or white ink. This is my teacher sample, and some of my JGH handouts.
Once the prints were complete, we selected our best one and traded the rest with classmates so we could each have a variety of buildings in our cityscapes. We placed emphasis on our own buildings by placing them near the center. We also texturized our backgrounds with crayons and rubbing plates to give that gritty urban feel.
I am so pleased with these and I hope you guys like them as well. Thanks to artist James Gulliver Hancock for the inspiration!
***Update: I sent James Gulliver Hancock some pics from our work and he wrote us a fan letter:
From:James Gulliver Hancock
Dec 24, 2013
To:Hope Knight
WOW! Hope, really really beautiful work! I love printmaking and children have such a free and confident way of making marks these are fantastic works. So glad I inspired such a wonderful workshop.
If you can spare one of the prints I’d love to receive one :-)
happy holidays!
The rubbings add an awesome element to their cityscapes! I love that they shared their pieces with each other! Unity in art! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Mrs. C! They liked the sharing part too, and many of the kids cut the buildings into parts and rearranged them.
DeleteI LOVE THESE! They have such an eclectic illustrative feel. I must do this for our city unit. Did you make up your handouts?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, I just copied some drawings from the website listed in the post and made some word doc examples for the kids to thumb through.
DeleteWonderful lesson! The trading component is such a great idea! I bet the kids had fun with that.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and sophisticated project. Thanks for the printmaking panda meme!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I get busy and forget to check your site - then I remember - and I'm always just BLOWN AWAY by what you're doing and what you're students are doing, Hope!!! These city scapes are just amazing and I'm so glad that Mr Hancock wrote you back. Artists are wonderful people!!!! So PROUD of all that you've accomplished!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love this lesson! what beautiful city scapes!
ReplyDeleteart-explorers.blogspot.com
How great! I love these prints with all of the detail they added and James Gulliver Hancock. When I was student teaching (2 years ago) I did a tile lesson called "All The Buildings of New York" and sent some pictures via email to him as well. I love how accessible the internet has made us all to share great ideas with the artists that inspired us! Your blog always inspires me with all the of great projects that you post!! I need to find the images from my project to post them too!
ReplyDeleteXo, Lauren of www.cornwellfam.com
These are fabulous- I especially like the black ink on pink paper ones ♥ Thnx for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLove this.
ReplyDeleteThese are AWESOME! I'll bet you were tempted to take some home with you! Will definitely do this lesson one day, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI would love to make this a project for everyone at the elementary school I teach art at. What tools did you use to create the print? We did James Rizzi paintings last year, this would be a fun follow up with a totally different feel. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey Julie - we used printing Styrofoam sheets - if you don't have that you can use styro plates or trays. We used pencil to make the impression and water-based printing ink for the prints. I think a school-wide project would be really fun - Good luck!
DeleteThese are great! Very inspirational. The individual buildings printed all on one large white sheet would make a really beautiful poster! Quick question: what size paper and what size foam printing plates did you use? Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI buy the 9x12" foam sheets and cut them in half, so about 6x9. Then we print on 9x12." Good luck!
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