Gyotaku Print Aquarium
First Grade Lesson
Students will create colorful mixed media aquarium scenes by creating gyotaku fish prints, and collaging that with bubble-painted backgrounds as well as collaged elements of the animal’s environment. The piece will allow students to learn about color theory, pattern, texture, spatial relationships between foreground and background, and compositional balance. Students will choose which base fish to print, but are encouraged to use different colors and experiment with detail elements as well as various textures. Students will watch a video on the cultural and historical significance of Gyotaku printmaking in Japan. They will learn about color, texture, collage, types of printmaking, and watercolor paint. Students will also learn about how to care for art materials and clean up. There will also be an emphasis on developing fine motor skills and creating space in an illustration.. Students will read and speak about art connecting to different purposes and cultures.
Objectives
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Create multiple gyotaku prints of fish, and choose one or two to create an underwater mixed-media illustration using inspirational and art references. (Cr)
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Incorporate color theory, texture, compositional balance through guided studio practice, and discussion of their artwork. (Cr, Pr)
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Explain their artwork, the choices they made, and what they like about the artwork in peer discussion. (Re, Cn)
Resources
Steps:
Mix pigment and soap to create a watercolor mixture. Blowing into straws will create pigment bubbles on the paper, which students will use for their aquarium backgrounds.
Watercolor Backgrounds
Print Fish
Use tempera paint to create prints on thin paper. Students use bench hook, rollers (to apply paint to the fish) and replica gyotaku fish. Two (to three) prints per student allows for growth.
Cut from tissue paper and other materials. Teacher will demo using photo reference of aquatic plants and other sea and underwater objects to get more realism.
Cut Out Elements
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Collage Aquarium
Students will learn about overlapping to create depth in their image. They will be able to create an aquarium by pasting their tissue paper objects as well as cut-outs of their fish prints.
For adaptive class, we had students color newsprint by wetting tissue paper and letting it dye surface. Then we had students do a fish print with just black paint. The paper was laminated and students could weave a border using pre-cut holes, to finish the piece and practice fine motor skills.
Modified Lesson
Student Work
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