5th Grade Adinkra Printmaking

This is my third year at Thomas and I'm gradually purchasing more tools and materials to use in the art room.  This fall, I bought gauges and "soft-cut" linoleum to use for printmaking.  5th grade was excited to get to do a printmaking project and be the first group to use the new tools.


This particular project was inspired by Adinkra symbols.  Each of the symbols have a unique meaning and are used by the Asante people of Ghana.  Each student chose one symbol that they felt represented their own personality.  The symbol was drawn in both a positive and negative form.  Next, the symbols were drawn on 3"x3" squares of the soft-cut linoleum.  Gauges were used to carve away the linoleum.  The positive image was carved on one side and the negative image was carved on the other side.  When carving was finished, students printed using black block printing ink.  Borders were done using oil pastels.  I'm really happy with how these came out.  I'm definitely keeping them for the art show this spring!  Thanks to my friend and colleague Drew Jones over at www.riversideelementaryart.blogspot.com for the lesson idea!

5th Grade African Inspired Masks

5th graders just finished a project inspired by African masks.  Each student created a ceramic mask based on a combination of an African animal and a human face.  The results were quite stunning.  Thomas students love working with clay, and it certainly showed with this project.  After the masks were fired, students painted them with acrylic paints, then later used a thin layer of brown tempera over the top to give their masks an aged look.