printing the prairie lesson plan  

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Lesson Title: Printing the Prairie

Lesson Date: March 6, 2010, 1:30-3:30pm

Target age/grade level: ages 9-14 (grades 3-8)

Lesson Overview: Journey to the world of the Prairie Print Makers. Look at images of the Great Plains and create your own multimedia print using different textures and printing processes.

Enduring/Big Idea: Humans and Nature
   
     
rationale 
 

Humans and nature have a constantly shifting and volatile relationship. People alter the land to meet their basic needs like harvesting food, creating shelter and producing a livelihood. At the same time, nature constantly challenges humans with its changing climate and harsh conditions. The idea of humans vs. nature has been the focus of many works of art throughout time. Artists are constantly inspired by nature, their surroundings and their outdoor experiences, which then becomes the theme of their compositions. The Prairie Print Makers were not exempt to the visual appeal of the plains and it was the focus of the majority of prints created by the society. Their pieces identified iconic American landscapes and utilized regional inspiration, resonating in its familiarity and aggregation roots with the country’s citizens during the greatest economic depression in history. These images helped remind despairing people of the struggles, drama and triumphs from America’s rural beginnings that led to the self-sufficient population.

During the trying time of the Great Depression, the Prairie Print Makers society was established in order to provide a central location for the promotion, appreciation and understanding of the Midwestern art while producing affordable art for the public through a variety of printmaking techniques like etching, lithography, linoleum cut reliefs, and wood engravings. According to the book, Prairie Print Makers Exhibition, “the artists found themselves at the geographic epicenter of a major artistic movement”. Founded by Coy Avon Seward and ten additional artists in Lindsborg, Kansas, the organization hoped to further the interests of the artists and collectors in printmaking by using prints and traveling exhibitions to promote an affordable method of moving Kansas art into the home. Each year a gift print was commissioned by the group and sent to the members, who’s dues ranged from $1-$5 annually depending on their level of membership.

These gift prints and artist’s works are among the collections housed in the Spencer Museum of Art on the University of Kansas campus. Because today’s class members are from Lawrence, Kansas, everyone will be able to relate and appreciate the historic scenes captured by ink on paper, and can serve to inspire their own views of their surroundings. After journeying through the landscapes of the Prairie Print Maker artist Coy Avon Seward in the gallery, the students will explore the printmaking techniques of relief etching and collagraphy to create their own editions of Prairie themed postcards, which will be exchanged with their peers by mail. This lesson will help students to better understand printmaking techniques and the value of reproductions in creating art. They will also learn to interpret design elements in landscapes and to understand how to formulate their own impressions of their “prairie” environment.
   
     
lesson objectives 
 
  1. Students will learn about the history of the Prairie Print Makers, artist Coy Avon Seward, view artworks and understand how the organization influenced future printmaking.

  2. Students will identify different characteristics and styles when learning about the different printmaking techniques and their effects.

  3. Students will discuss the use of foreground, middle ground, and background in landscape artwork as well as horizon placement and perspective in establishing the setting.

  4. Students will discuss the iconic elements found in the Great Plains and why it was important to the Prairie Print Makers to feature this subject matter in their works.

  5. Students will compare and contrast the different portrayals of the plain’s landscape including the incorporation of human subjects, natural elements, size relationship and interactions of these items.

  6. Students will explore two types of printmaking featuring prairie subjects by creating a collagraph print from textured materials and a foam relief etching print.

  7. Students will experience the process of making printed reproductions by creating three signed and numbered editions for both their collagraph and relief plates. One of each print will be kept by the museum for the spring display, the student will take one of each print home, and one of each technique will be exchanged by mail with fellow students.
   
     
key ideas 
 
  • Printmaking experienced a revival during the depression in order to make affordable art through multiple reproductions.

  • Humans and nature interact in a constantly changing and unpredictable relationship ranging from seasonal changes and natural disasters to growing crops and shaping the landscape with architecture.

  • The Prairie Print Makers was an organization with membership by invitation established to promote an understanding and appreciation for the art of Kansas while keeping the art affordable to the public.

  • Coy Avon Seward and other Prairie Print Maker artists used the regional landscape and their personal experiences for their art’s subject matter featuring Midwestern and American life.
   
     
connections 
 
Because today’s class members are from Lawrence, Kansas, everyone will be able to relate and appreciate the historic scenes captured by ink on paper, and can serve to inspire their own views of their surroundings. It will also reinforce the idea that artist like the students, can use their personal experience and surroundings in their artistic subject matter. The worksheet and web diagram brainstorming activities will help to facilitate these connections by have the students form their own images and opinions about Kansas life.
   
     
vocabulary 
 
Great Depression- the most severe economic crisis that began in 1929 in the United States with the stock market crash and spread worldwide, lasting into the early 1940s.

Prairie Print Makers- a Midwest organization of artists with membership determined by invitation that was active during the first half of the twentieth century in creating high quality prints that were affordable to the public and promoted an understanding and appreciation of regional artworks.

Prairie- a grassland that has moderate temperatures and rainfall and features a landscape of grasses, shrubs and fewer trees. The United States has a region referred to as the Great Plains, which encompasses North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, and parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Minnesota.

Landscape- an image that depicts natural scenery usually from a single expansive viewpoint.

Setting- the surroundings or environment that establish a sense of place included in a picture/scene.

Tone- the visual mood conveyed through use of contrast, color and expression in art

Foreground- the part of the scene that is nearest to the viewer and most prominent

Middle ground- the space or picture plane depicted between the foreground and the background

Background- the part of the scene that appears farthest from the viewer

Horizon – the line that represents the apparent ntersection of Earth and sky<

Printmaking- an art form that enables artists to make multiple copies of a design by applying ink to an image from a surface like a metal plate, stone or block of wood and adding pressure to transfer it to a piece of paper.

Brayer- a printmaking tool that consists of a roller that evenly spreads ink onto a plate.

Edition- one reproduction from a series of printings of the same image. Usually art editions are numbered and signed by the artist.

Relief Print- a type of printmaking in which an artist cuts into a block of material to create an image and removing the parts that shouldn’t be printed and leaving only the shapes that will be visible. The remaining shapes are covered in ink and then pressed onto a separate sheet of paper.

Collagraph- a type of printmaking that uses collage or gluing various materials onto a plate and can incorporate other techniques like intaglio or relief. The textured plate is covered in ink then transferred to paper through pressure.

Lithograph- a type of printmaking in which the surface is treated with chemicals so that only the drawing will absorb ink and be transferred to paper when printed. The technique uses the idea that water and grease do not mix.
   
     
materials 
 
Spencer Museum Art Works:
  • Summer, Coy Avon Seward, 1923, lithograph, Number: 1991.0390
  • litho plate for Summer, Coy Avon Seward, 1923, Number: S2006.014
  • Threshing Beans, Coy Avon Seward, 1934, linocut, Number: 2006.0185
  • Modern Mills, Lloyd Chester Foltz, 1928, lithograph, Number: 0000.0253
Other Materials:
  • 20 copies of the student worksheet (copied front and back)
  • 20 copies of Prairie Print Maker invitation letter
  • 20 copies of the parent letter
  • Newspaper to dry student prints on
  • White Watercolor Paper cut to Postcard size 4”x6” – enough for 6 per student with extras
  • White paper for students to sketch/test printing
  • 15 registration templates
  • Pencils, markers, ballpoint pens (for etching in foam)
  • Printing inks-various colors, tempura/acrylic paint
  • Brayers, paintbrushes
  • Spoons to burnish and apply pressure
  • Cups of water, paper towels
  • Labels to write addresses for exchange postcards
  • 40 postage stamps
  • Thin foam to etch into for Relief Print
  • Fun foam, tissue paper, yarn, paper towels, and other materials for texture
  • Mod Podge and tacky craft glue (little cups to disperse it to the pairs)
  • Hair dryer
  • Scissors
  • Cardboard (plate/backing) to be used for Collagraph Print
   
     
lesson description 
 
   
handouts 
 
   
     
assessment 
 


A checklist was used to rank individual student understanding by reviewing final products. An additional comments area allowed for further observations. Click the link below to view:
   
   
references 
 

Bennett, Maggi., Capua, Sarajean., McArthur, Jeanette. (1970).  Printing Without a Press. Hollywood: Dukane Press Inc.

Decker, Julie. (2000). Squish: 2000-2001 Children’s Exhibit. Anchorage: Anchorage Museum of History and Art.

Exhibits USA. The Prairie Print Makers. (2001). Kansas City: Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Marling, Karal Ann. (2001). The Prairie Print Makers: Five-Dollar Culture in the Great Depression. The Prairie Print Makers, 6-13.

North, Bill. (2001). Prairie Impressions: The Prairie Print Makers and Print Culture in Kansas. The Prairie Print Makers, 20-25.

North, Bill. (1993). Rural America: Prints from the Collection of Steven Schmidt. Lawrence: Spencer Museum of Art.

The Prairie Print Makers. http://www.spencerart.ku.edu/exhibitions/ppm/. [10 December 2009].

O’Neill, Barbara Thompson., Foreman, George C. (1984). The Prairie Print Makers. Wichita: McCormick-Armstrong Company, Inc.

Seaton, Elizabeth G. (2001). American Printmaking 1930-1965. The Prairie Print Makers, 14-19.