Summer at Boston University

I have been working on a Master's degree through Boston University.  Most of the classes are online. However, this summer, I went to Boston to take a few studio courses.   I took two classes: Wire Sculpture and Printmaking.  All of these techniques were wonderful to learn, however in order to apply them to my elementary classroom, I will need to simplify the techniques and materials.

 This is the wire sculpture I created during my time at Boston. This was a very time consuming process because it involved twisting and bending thick sharp wire.  If I were to do this with my elementary students, I would need to use softer wire.

 We created a variety of monoprints during my time in Boston.  This monoprint was created with water-soluble crayons on plexiglass, which was then printed on wet paper. This process can also be done with oil paints or watercolors.  While I don't have a press in my elementary classroom, I would be able to do a version of this by simply rubbing with a spoon.

 This was a woodcut I created.  The colors were added by printing several times using stencils to block out the parts I didn't want inked.  While woodcutting would be inappropriate for my elementary classroom, a similar process could be done with styrofoam or E-Z cut.

This last one was a pronto print.  It was created by printing a photo on pronto paper using a laser jet printer.  Then I used a brayer, and added ink directly to the pronto paper. Next, I used a wet sponge and wiped the pronto paper.  It was printed using a press.  I am not sure if this is doable for my elementary students.  I will have to see if this process works without a press first.