1st Grade Fall Prints "Autumn Elegance"

1st graders are taking their first look at printmaking.  As the fall season has arrived we are doing, what I like to call, an "Autumn Elegance" inspired project.  Using real, pressed leaves students experimented with printing leaves.

Collected Leaves:

Using gold paint students painted on the vein side of the leaves and printed on black paper by holding a paper over the leaf and rubbing gently with their hand.

Taking the project a little further we discussed how we see artwork in an art museum.  We came up with the conclusion that art in an art museum is usually presented with a frame.  To finish our project 1st graders could pick between these colors; red, yellow, green, and orange (keeping along with the fall theme.) We talked about the word "matte" and using the color students chose they matted their leave prints with glue.  Students were to try their best to center their print on the matte. With oil pastels students created a pattern around their frame.