Andy Worhol Pop Art Printmaking Lesson

This is a fun and simple printmaking project, focusing on Pop Art.  I am going to have my students replicate Andy Worhol's style of repeating a popular image on different colors of paper.  

My students are doing a unit on Marketplace so we'll focus on items that can be bought in the marketplace.  I'll bring some groceries etc...  in for the students to look at and we'll discuss Pop Art and Andy Worhol.

They can do soup cans, but I'm going to ask them to think of something they like and see if they can turn it into a Worhol style print, hopefully getting a variety of items.

The students will use foam from a disposable foam plate and water based block printing ink to create their print.

They draw into the foam to create the design, then cut the shape out before printing.

They'll print the image 4 times on 4 different colors of paper, but use the same color of ink for all 4 prints.

They can simplify their design, just suggesting what the product is without every detail.

One of the challenges is to get the words to print correctly and not backwards.  They don't have to use words, but if they do they have to write the words backwards on the foam.

I'm going to show them this example of the word Moo - even though the letters M, O, O are the same whether backwards or not, the word still has to be written from right to left instead of the traditional left to right.

It's confusing, and depending on your age group you may want to tell them no words...

I'm going to let my students choose their own colors of paper, have them do the printing and when they are dry glue them onto a backing paper so they can be displayed together.

What a fun way to teach them about Andy Worhol and his medium, printmaking.  I see his influence on popular culture all the time, they will hopefully start to recognize it too.

Printmaking is always so much fun for the students, it's kind of magical to see that image when they lift away the foam block.  I think they'll love to choose an item from their lives to focus on!

2nd Grade Examples: