April was all about the most famous pop artist of all- Andy Warhol! Andy Warhol is a Pennsylvania native who is known for turning advertisements, characters, and celebrities into pieces of fine art. Since he worked primarily with printmaking, we tried two different printing techniques. The kindergarteners used Gelli plates to make their own version of Andy’s Flowers, and the lower elementary students recreated his famous Campbell’s Soup Cans by using Xerox transfers.
The Kindergarten students each used a Gelli plate to make their prints. They rolled black paint on top of the plate, and then stamped fake flowers on top until they were happy with the composition. They also used cotton swabs to add more details. Then they pressed their paper on the plate and rubbed the back of the paper to make sure all the paint would transfer to the paper. This process was repeated three more times for a total of four prints. Once they added some more color with paint markers, their projects were complete!
The Lower Elementary class used an oil transfer technique for their soup cans. Xerox copies were made of a Campbell’s soup can, and the copy was placed face down on a colored piece of paper. They used a cotton swab to put oil on the back of the Xerox, and then rolled over the oil with a brayer. The oil loosens the ink of the photocopied image, and when pressure is applied with the brayer, the ink transfers to the colored paper. Once each student had done this process about 5 or 6 times, they cut up and reassembled their prints until they had two multicolored soup cans.
