Two-Hour Art Workshop Lesson

A few months ago, I was invited to teach a workshop at a local public library. They had seen the class I was teaching at the local art association and hoped I could do a similar version at the library. The art association class lasted for eight weeks but I distilled some of the key elements into a two-hour class. I provided all the materials and the library paid me a stipend. The workshop was free for the participants with a limit of ten people.

When I began to write this blog, I put my class description into ChatGPT and asked for a two-hour lesson plan. What I ended up with was very similar to how I had organized the class. I think using AI is a great way to get ideas for teaching, especially when figuring out how much time to allot for each section. The lesson plan I’m sharing with you is the format that AI provided but edited with my content.

Workshop Title: Exploring Mixed Media Printmaking

Objective: Participants will learn the techniques of gel plate printing, letterpress printing, and collage

Duration: 2 hours

Materials for ten students and the instructor:

1. Gel plates

2. Brayers

3. Acrylic paints (Blick matte)

4. Soft rubber brayers

5. Vintage and commercial papers cut into small pieces and stored in plastic bins (one per table)

6. Watercolor paper cut into 8” x 8” squares

7. Letterpress tools (press, paint, brayer, type, magnets, palette paper)

8. Scissors

9. Glue sticks

10. Old magazines to glue on

11. Stencils (My collection from StencilGirl)

12. Cleanup materials

13. Table coverings

14. Materials for cleaning: alcohol wipes, baby wipes and paper towels

15. QR code poster for newsletter sign-ups

Introduction (5 minutes)

• Welcome and introduction to my art

Gel Plate Printing and Letterpress Printing (55 minutes)

Basic Gel Plate Techniques (students gather at one table for demonstration)

• Rolling acrylic paint onto the gel plate

• Using letter stencils

• Making prints on paper

Letterpress Printing (students gather at one table for demonstration)

• Introduction to Letterpress

• Overview of the letterpress tools provided

• Setting up the press

• Applying paint

• Printing on paper using the letterpress

Students create gel plate prints at their tables while the teacher helps students with the letterpress printing

Collage (50 minutes)

Introduction to Collage, Materials, and Techniques (students gather at one table for demonstration)

• Collage Techniques

• Selecting and sourcing collage materials

• Demonstrate how to deconstruct a book

• Arranging and adhering materials to watercolor paper

• Encouraging participants to experiment with combining gel plate prints, letterpress prints, and collage in a single artwork

• Letterpress printing continues

Cleanup (10 minutes)

• Instructions for cleaning up materials

• Providing information on future workshops or resources for continued learning

Note: Take pictures while you are teaching, or ask someone in the class to take some for you. I forgot to do this for the library workshop, so the images I’m sharing are from another class where the students were working on similar projects.