Lesson One

Printmaking Press for Monotypes, and Relief Prints

Silkscreen Press for Tee-Shirts

Project: Students will make Tee-shirts through the silkscreen printmaking process. Students will also create prints using the printing press and will use one of three methods to create their print: Collographs, relief prints (lino or wood, whichever they prefer), or transfers. Students will develop concepts and ideas for Tee-Shirts and Prints through the various mediums of printmaking. They will follow the basic elements and principles of design. Total direction and guidance will be given by the teacher, and total supervision will be maintained at all times when using the press. Student images will be created on Tee-Shirts and Prints, and will consist of messages to the community, and images that correspond to the community. Tee-Shirts and Prints will be for sale at the upcoming Community Parade/BBQ/Fund Raiser.

Eduring Ideas: Provide a voice for the students in the community, and enhance self-exploration. Integrate students and their arts into the community.

Essential Questions: How can messages and images created allow communities to find their voice and identity, inspire and educate the community? How can art serve as a transformative tool in the community?

Activities: Students will first start by exlporing various design elements and Printmaking artists of the past and today. They will design a tee-shirt that delivers a community message or image and print it on the silkscreen press. Students will also expolre one method of printing from the three choices: collograph, relief, or transfers. The students who choose the medium of refief printing and will create one relief print (lino or wood-cut). Students who choose collographs will also be responsible for one collograph print. If transfers are chosen the students will have to create two prints derived from transfers. Students will be responsible for all design aspects, mixing, and printing the tee-shirts and prints. Printing on the press will take teamwork and a positive attitude. After printing students will have a critique and self-examination of the work, and discuss ideas they had about the project, and the hopes they have for the messages that they are wanting to convey. Students will also provide an artist statement along with artists they studied to accomplish their projects. Artists and Resources are listed at the bottom of the blog.

Assessment: How well did the student convey his or her message? How well did they preform in the printing aspect of the assignment? Were prints neat and printed correctly? Are the tee-shirts printed correctly, and do they also convey a message to the community? Are the images selected appropriate and aesthetically pleasing? Was the student well behaved and a team player in the printing process.

Reflection: I feel this lesson is important because it gives the students a voice, and allows them to explore the area of printmaking. Many students do not get the opportunity to make prints untill college, and I want printmaking to continue to be an important aspect of the arts. The lesson also gives the students a voice and lets them communicate with the community and create a social dialogue. I feel tee-shirts are a underestimated medium, and can be seen by thousands of people. Artwork and messages on shirts are moving alot of the time, going from place to place and can deliver the students message to a wide audience. Together the prints serve as a moving gallery, with many people being influenced.

Lesson Two

Student Parade, Art Exhibition, and Pic-Nic

Project: Students will have a parade through the neighborhood or city, that leads to the exhibition and Fund-Raiser. Students will create costumes to wear, and create instruments. Drums out of paint buckets and cans, and affordable recorders and kazoo's, and if available a student can play the guitar or another horned instrument if they are skilled in band. Students will be encouraged to sing and dance, and bring out the best of the community. Students that can play instruments will be preforming in the parade. There will be a community cook-out or pick-nick at the destination. The destination will be a nearby park or community center where the prints and tee-shirts will be presented. The prints and tee-shrits designed in lesson one will be for sale, and all proceeds will go toward developing the community. Creating Rain barrells for community members to use, and collect run-off water that can be used for gardens and washing/cleaning. Students will also use funds to help the community create self sustaining gardens, and will be handing out plants and seeds that will encourage the community to start thinking about a self sustatined community. Bringing the Arts to the Community to further develop the communiity is what this exhibition/parade/art show is all about. Bringing the Communiy together to connect and ask questions about how to further develop a positive attitude of society as a whole.


Endurng Ideas: Community art provides opportunities for social and economic growth. Community art can address important social issues, and bring opposing forces together in a positive manner to address the needs of the community. Integrate students and art into their community.


Essential Questions: How can making and providing art in the community provide opportunities for self-exploration and develop a dialogue with the community? How can opposing forces in the community come together for the purpose of social, political, and economical gain through the arts?

Activities: Students will create costumes and instruments out of materials provided by the teacher or items they have at home at their disposal. Students will be examining the aspects of sculpture and costumes. The parade will begin and end in the same place, a public area in the community, like a park or arts center. Students will march playing instruments, dance, and sing, to invite the community to the main event at the end of the parade. Flyers and posters will also need to be completed by the class as a group the week before the event. Donations made from community businessess will be passed out along the parade like rain barrells and small plants and seeds. When the parade reaches the destination their will be an art show set up, where people can purchase tee-shirts and prints the students have made in lesson one. Donations will also be accepted. All proceeds will cover the pick-nick costs, and the rest will be made to enhance the community and develop the area. Students will sell their artwork, and will also be wearing their tee-shirts as well, to display the messages they have for the members of their community. After the parade is over and the members of the community have a chance to look at the artwork and purchase what they want, the pick-nick will begin. This will give the students and community members a chance to create a social dialougue and talk about what is needed in the community. Through art students will have created an opportunity to make a change, and make connections within the community and to create a social network. After the event, students will have to write a brief summary of how they feel the event worked, and if they succeeded in creating a social dialogue with the community? Artists and Resources are at the bottom of the blog.

Assessment: How well did the students interact with the community? Did they participate in all aspects of the event? Did they help create all the costumes and artwork displays? Did they take advantage of the opportunity and create a dialogue with the community, and voice concerns with the community. Did they discuss their artwork with the community? Were they creative in the making and designing of their costumes and instruments? Did they follow the priciples and elements of design. Were the costumes and instruments aesthetically pleasing and did they fit well with the direction of the lesson?

Reflection: I feel that this lesson will help create a social network between the members of the community and the students. It will also let the community know what the studnets needs are, and how they fell about the community and neighborhood they live in. The students will be displaying their voice and messages to the community and selling their art to raise funds to create a better environment to live in. Students will become a moving gallery with their tee-shrits on, with all the messages on them. The community can't help but be motivated and touched by the event.

Lesson Three

Community Stepping Stones Message Center

Project: Create a message center for the community and neighborhoods. Students will use suculpture as the medium, and develop a place for members of the community to leave concerns, ideas, and comments. Once or twice a week, the students will check the "mail" left at the center. The sculpture should be inviting and insiring.

Essential Questions:

Enduring Ideas: Create social networks between students and the community. Using sculpture as a vehicle for the students' and artists' voices. Create better social understanding and diversity. Help the students and the community understand, meet, and address concerns about the neighborhood and community. Integrate students and their art into the community.

Essential Questions: How can art be a transformative tool in the communtiy, and make a lasting impression? Will the community take part in developing and maintaining a social dialogue with the students?

Activities: Students will look at artists that have used sculpture to influence the community and society. Students will design and build a message center for the community. It should be inviting, and have a legitimate purpose for delivering messeags and providing answers for the community. All members of the class should help in the building of the sculpture, and should all come together and agree on a design. The message center works by providing a box where students and community members can put their ideas and concerns about the community and neighborhood. The box will be checked a few times a week, and will be maintained through the rest of the school year or class. Future classes will be able to continue this project, and in no way should it be taken down when the class is over. It should create a voice for the students and community. It should bring together opposing forces to create a social dialogue, and correct issues that need to be dealt with. After the class has made the sculpture they should write a short paper on what expectations they have for the project. After the students start to recieve messages, they should work on communicating with the community, with the teachers supervision, and address the subjects that need to community has voiced. In the end the students should be able to say that they have contributed in making their community a better place through art. Art can bridge social divides, and bring people closer together. The message center should live on and the students should carry the knowledge they learned from it well beyond the end of the class. Artists and Resources are provided at the bottom of the blog.

Assessment: Did the student help in designing the community message center? Did they help build the sculpture? Did the student provide a voice for the community and interact with the messages left in the community message center? How well did they understand the concept of changing culture and providing a voice for the community? Did they participate in the dialogue with the community after messages were recieved? In their paper did they understand the concept of creating a social dialogue through the community message center? And did they study previous artist and sculptures with the same aim, in providing a voice for the students and community?

Reflection: I feel the project is important because it creates a social dialogue between the students and the community. It allows a voice for both the students and the community, and gives both parties a chance to enhance and change the community in which they live for the better. Students should come away from this project with a sense of empowerment and inspiration. They can make a change if they put the effort into it, and really make a change in society, the community, and their neighborhood.

Lesson Four

Rowlett Park Mural, Tampa Fl.

Project: Painting a Mural that will create public dialogue, and inspire the community. Images can drive thought, and impact the community in which they are painted. The Rowlett Park Mural is about Motherhood, and how Fathers are missing from childrens lives and families in the community. Do you notice what is missing from the mural? Men. The mural shows how strong the women and children are, and should inspire young men to be good fathers.

Essential Questions: How can images impact, enhance, and eventually change the community in a positive way. How can art serve as a transformative tool in the communtiy and make a lasting impression? How can art allow communities to find their voice and identity.

Enduring Ideas: Understand that art is a transformative tool for both social and personal reasons. Integrate students and their artwork into the community.

Activities: Students will work out a design that will inpire or convey a message to the community. After choosing a topic, students will break up into teams. There will need to be rollers and mixers, fill-in artists, and line artists. Line artists work on getting the drawing on the surface, and then the fill-in artist paint inside the lines the color needed. When big areas need to be covered you uses rollers, and the same person who is mixing the paint can help roll with the fill-in artists. There will need to be supervisors assissting the process when needed, and to overlook the overall design presentation and proportion with the teacher. I suggest having at least two teachers as well if you can get a volunteer to help. After applying the paint you can spray on a sealer to help the longevity of the mural.

Activities continued: Students will first look at artists that have used murals to communcate and deliver messages to the community. After studying the artists, they will need to come up with a message they want to convey to the community. Students will then design an image that will convey the message to the public. The students will then be broken into teams and start the mural process. After the mural is painted, there should be an opportunity for the students to share it with the community with an "opening". This will be another chance for the students to sell their artwork with the community. I should allow another chance for social dialogue to be created, and provide the students with a voice in the community. After the opening of the mural the students should write a paper on how the mural affected them, and how they feel the community responded to the mural. Did the mural convey the message that the class wanted to say? How well did the mural bring about a social dialogue, and will it inspire people in the community? Artists and Resources are provided at the bottom of the page.

Assessment: How well did students work together? Did they understand the enduring ideas and principles of the project? How well did they work as a team, and how well did they preform the tasks assigned to them? Did they help in designing the mural, and did they help in coming up with a concept for the mural. Do they understand the importance of a social dialogue, and how a mural can accomplish the task of conveying a message to a neighborhood, community, and society? Did they explore artists that used murals as a voice to the community and for the community? How well did their paper illustrate the ideas and questions involved in the lesson?

Reflection: This project is important because it delivers a message to the whole community and those who don't even live in the area. People will drive by and be influenced by the mural, and hopefully become inspired to get involved in the community. Murals deliver when it comes to portraying a message to the community. The voice of the Rowlett Park Mural still lingers almost four years after its completion. I was able to be a part of Community Stepping Stones, and I can tell you that the mural was painted by the kids, and for the community. This can be achieved if you really put forth the effort, and Sulfer Spings a small suburb of Tampa still reaps the benefits of the murals. Almost all the funding for the arts was taken from Non Profit Organizations in Tampa, totaling in the $400,000 range. I can tell you that Community Stepping Stones was deeply effected by this, but because of the murals and community involvment that Stepping Stones does, they were awarded grants, and we able to continue the organization. So, these things do matter, and they can make a difference. I am a witness to how strong public community art is, and the impact it makes on peoples lives.