We stayed in Japan for another week, introducing the wonderful art method of wood-block printing.This marvelous process involves carving designs into wood blocks, then applying a sort of ink, then "stamping" onto paper. (This is the very basic of way to explain the process)
The children looked at some wood-block style Japanese artists, one notable artist including Hokusai, who has done several famous landscape prints of waves, and Mount Fuji. After learning what inspired historical printmakers, the children became instantly excited. Some students practiced their sketch for their wood-block design in their sketchbooks, others just went right to it. This was the most exciting art project so far for this group :)
Instead of wood blocks, we used styrofoam sheets which I cut into 1/4s. The children used the back of a paintbrush to "etch" their designs in. We learned that if one desires to include writing, one must write the entire word and, the letters themselves, backwards.
I think the process of designing first, then printing, was very satisfying for this group.
