Onehunga High School

Year 10

Pacific printmaking

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Context

This unit combined dry-point, three-colour reduction woodblock and single woodblock printmaking processes in a final work. Students researched the work of Dagmar Dyck and Jim Dine and used different drawing approaches for each printmaking purpose. They followed a predetermined layout to create a coherent, final, composite work.

Learning sequence

Students learned about printmaking conventions, including dry-point, monoprint, intaglio and woodcut.

They studied the work of Dagmar Dyck, with particular focus on her approach to composition and the incorporation of her Tongan heritage.

Jim Dine’s drawings were referenced for their use of frontal viewpoints, placement in boxes and background shadow techniques.

Dimensions were established for the students’ observational drawings and tapa design so their composite prints would be rectangular in format.

Woodblock component: Pastel observational drawings were made in response to a visit to the school marae, for later transfer to a woodblock. The school crest was drawn into the top of the image.

Dry-point component: Observational drawings of boats were made in ink, for later transfer to Mylar film.

Tapa design component: Students researched traditional tapa making and created their own designs in response.

Approaches to composition were planned according to the predetermined layout developed in response to the work of the artist models.

Printing phase: It was necessary to follow a given order of printing.

First, the boat drawings were placed beneath the Mylar film. The image was scratched into the film with dry-point needles, inked up with oil-based ink and printed onto wet A4 paper, (five clean prints). Junior students obtained good results using water-based inks on dry paper.

Next, the tapa designs were carved into woodblocks and printed with water-based ink on top of the prepared chine-collé area, (coloured paper glued onto the A4 paper).

Finally, the three-colour reduction woodblock print, derived from the marae drawings with black as the final colour, was printed in the selected space, to complete the composition.

Because the final work combined three different prints on a single piece of A4 paper, particular attention was given to registration and to clean printing. An edition of five prints was produced.

Curriculum strands and objectives