the block print t-shirt project and the national christmas tree

in november i worked with three different groups of high school students from lafayette jeff hs, oakland hs, and cary home on a t-shirt project.  my goal for the project was to introduce kids to alternative uses for simple linoblock printmaking methods.  so we made block printed t-shirts.  i met with each group for a total of about 4 1/2 hours stretched over a 2-3 week period.  within that very short time frame students had to sketch a design, cut at least one block (most did several or multiple color layers), layout their t-shirt design and print their images.  students were asked to develop images revolving around a theme of 'self/society,' and to think about their place in their local community.  they were also asked to freely share their blocks with other students to collage with and to think outside the box in their design.

i also had the honor of being chosen to work with 6th and 7th graders to create the ornaments that represent indiana on the national christmas tree at the white house.  i worked with Ying Larimore's art students from battleground middle school to create the 24 ornaments.  and instead of selecting 24 students or the 24 best pieces, we decided to create 24 blocks where each kid would get one of the 144 sides.  each student cut a linoblock image that had to do with either indiana or the holiday season.  then we combined all the different images to create the blocks.  battleground also did a fundraiser to send Ying to Washington for the lighting of the trees!

after some bloody fingers and several bandaids, a whole roll of linoblock, and a whole ton of ideas, images and effort these groups of students created an incredible show at tippecanoe arts federation's student show.  we had over 300 people show up for the opening to support these kids and their efforts.

this project was part of a community service class offered by purdue university school of technology.  the students in the class applied for and received a grant to work with at-risk and high-risk students in our community.  they chose tippecanoe arts federation (TAF) and the after school arts program (ASAP) to work with, and TAF chose me as the instructor.  this could not have been possible without the efforts of paige sharp of TAF and Purdue representatives michelle, denise, steven, mike, eric, steve and brenda for all their efforts in pulling this all together.  

laundry hung out to dry

here are a couple of my favorites from the students...

at the opening

buffy rogers and student teacher, catherine bowyer's class at jeff high school created this mural by combining all the images that they made in class

p.s. see more pictures from the National Christmas Tree project here.
p.p.s. an article about the projects.