Residency / Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Tyler Green, High school, 4 hours
This week the same teacher from HPSH HS brought in another class to learn emulsion screen printing, and brought in her own work to print on top of. She had burned her screen the week before but hadn’t had time to print in order to help the class, so this week she printed while the class was getting their screens ready. She was doing a portrait of her child, and had prepared about a dozen paintings on loose canvas with the intention of interacting with her print. When she had burned her screen, however, she printed the image flipped so it sat backwards on the background color that was placed to line up with the printed layer. It was really interesting to see how she rolled with the punches and embraced the quirks of her screen (emulsion had dried in her line work blocking the ink in certain parts).
It’s always fun working with educators; in the past I’ve assisted on a couple classes of arts educators but it was interesting seeing the direct influence of this teacher’s learning curve translated into her help with the class. She was extra aware of helping students place their images on the screen and placing it the way they intended, and it really hit home how important it is to actually do the work you’re teaching a class. There’s a lot to be said about how experiences shape our understanding of how to make things accessible and useful.