Ready for this Gelli

After taking the Art of Education's course "Strategies for Art Educators" I was ready to get my students gelli printing. Thanks to a generous donation from my school's PTA and some artsonia funds that had accrued we were able to order (24) 5x5" gelli plates from blick.















I experimented with my own gelli prints at home for a few weeks, troubleshooting the process and imagining it with 24 bodies in action. I decided to start with traditional printing methods and ease into the gelli prints. Simply put, I didn't think they were ready for this Gelli. They created oil pastel self portraits on 6x9 plastic plates. These were transferred onto damp paper. We repeated this for a second week so students would have more prints to choose from.

Then they created the gelli prints. Using bubble wrap and textured stampers they made four prints each in one class period. During the last class they looked at pop art examples and assembled their own. The could use 1, 2, 3 or 4 self portraits and a range of composition strategies. The work was amazing and they had a great time.

If you'd like to try this lesson in your classroom but would rather skip the lesson plan writing, check it out here.