1. Block Party: Invigorating course assignments with woodblock printmaking
2. Half-day workshop
3. Proposed theme and justification:

Creative arts practice has been proposed as one way to strengthen environmental education and engage diverse learners on social topics (Curtis et al, 2014, Dewhurst, 2011, Graham, 2007, Lawrence, 2005). Lawrence (2005) posits that engaging through artistic expression “honor[s] multiple intelligences and indigenous knowledge…[and] broadens cultural perspectives by allowing and honoring diverse ways of knowing and learning” (p. 3). Clover (2000) writes that art-based learning brings socio-economically and culturally diverse audiences together in collaboration. In other words, researchers find that the arts open up knowledge acquisition to multiple types of learners. That said, Curtis (2011) concludes that art remains underutilized as a method for communicating environmental principles. Woodblock printmaking has been used for hundreds of years to communicate political messages. This workshop will engage participants in a step-by-step demonstration of woodblock printmaking and will allow participants to ink and pull their own print.

4. An outline of goals and learning outcomes, and plans for communication
5. Goals
6. To share information about using woodblock printmaking in environment and policy classes.
7. To give participants hands-on experience in both carving and pulling a print (a pre-carved wood block, due to time constraints) so that they can proceed with confidence.
8. To provide the support, feedback, and examples of explicit research-printmaking assignments for community members to integrate activities into their programs or syllabi.
9. To hear from participants about other ways they use the arts in their classes.

1. Learning Outcomes
2. Information sharing (from workshop leader and participants about

how they use the arts in their own classes).

2. An introduction to the way woodblock printmaking can be

used in environmental and policy classes, including examples of

blocks and of integrated assignments.

3. Hands-on practice carving, inking, and pulling a print. (Each

participant will not be able to carve a new print due to time

constraints, but will be able to practice on a block and ink/print a

previously completed carved block)

1. Results communication
2. A Research Project Page will be created that:
3. provides detailed information about how to use this method (e.g., supply lists, tips, videos)
4. allows participants (and any interested party) to upload examples of their own arts-based strategies and assignments.

5. Progression of topics, types of learning activities/methods.
   1. Brief background on how printmaking has been used historically to share information and political messages.
   2. Examples of student work and assignments.
   3. Hands-on printmaking demonstration and printmaking by participants.
   4. Sharing arts-based strategies among participants.

6. Confirmed leader:

Katharine Owens is the director of the All-University Curriculum at the University of Hartford and teaches in the environmental studies and politics programs. A printmaker for over twenty years, she incorporates this mode of art making into courses on policy and environment. She also studies the impact of experiential and active learning on students.

7. Description

Have you wanted to incorporate hands-on art practice into your classes, but lacked the knowledge to do so? Have you investigated methods like printmaking, but aren’t quite sure how to lead a class in this exercise in real life? This workshop can help, by sharing examples of carved wood blocks, letting you practice carving with the tools of the trade, and allowing each participant to print a pre-carved block.

*Preference for an arts studio, or some type of room that art supplies can be used in and projects can dry in (will need maximum 48 hours to dry). 

Works Cited

Clover, D. E. (2000) “Community Arts as Environmental Education and Activism: A

Labour and Environment Case Study.” Convergence, 33(4), pp. 19-30.

Curtis, D. J. (2011) “Using the Arts to Raise Awareness and Communicate

Environmental Information in the Extension Context.” Journal of Agricultural

Education and Extension, 17(2), pp. 181-194.

Curtis, D.J., Reid, N. and Reeve, I. (2014) “Towards ecological sustainability:

observations on the role of the arts.” S.A.P.I.E.N.S., 7(1), pp. 1-15.

Dewhurst, M. (2011) “Where is the Action? Three Lenses to Analyze Social Justice

Art Education.” Equity & Excellence In Education, 44(3), pp. 364–378.

Graham, M. A. (2007) “Art, Ecology and Art Education: Locating Art Education in a

Critical Place-based Pedagogy.” Studies in Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research 48(4), pp. 375-391.

Lawrence, R. L. (2005) “Knowledge Construction as Contested Terrain: Adult

Learning Through Artistic Expression.” New Directions For Adult And Continuing Education, 107, pp. 3-11.