Feeling Things Out
Students roll ink over their work before pressing it against a blank piece of printing paper.
CAW Teaching Artist helps a student pull a print from a collagraph. The results can be delightfully unpredictable.
At MS 328 in Washington Heights, the room was pulsing as the students worked diligently applying glue to their pages and arranging 3D materials such as yarn and cardboard on top of it. The students were galvanized to find CAW Teaching Artist Alejandra Mandelblum presenting them with new materials to use. They found cut-up lunch trays, wallpaper, wrapping paper, string, and more. Alejandra tasked her students to create a collagraph, a kind of print that uses textured materials to create patterns, that tells a story brimming with ridges and grooves.
Students instantly got to work. Some pulled up Pinterest references, others outlined a drawing before gluing materials onto their page, others worked in groups, bouncing ideas off of one another. It was gratifying to see students using different kinds of media to create intentional and creative prints.
As the students wrapped up their projects, giving time for the glue to dry, Alejandra was preparing their printing station and getting the young artists ready to ink their masterpieces. As the students came up one by one, Alejandra walked them through the process of rolling the ink roller, making sure to emphasize the textured elements of their work. The students were further engrossed to see what the work would look like having worked through such an open-ended process.
When the work was printed and lifted, the students were surprised to see a completely different image than what they had anticipated. This left them with a different understanding of how art works in real time — the end product doesn’t always come out as expected. Sometimes it’s better.
“I want them to take in everything; art is emotional, personal, community, and culture. I want them to appreciate all of that and the power of creativity and imagination.”
Teaching Artists and Program Staff
Alejandra Mandelblum, Teaching Artist
Donna Manganello, Program Manager
Ivory Nunez-Medrano, Program Manager | Teaching and Learning
Madeline De Léon, Program Associate
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Immigrant Initiative in partnership with the City Council and Council Member Carmen De La Rosa. This Creative Art Works program is also made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
