To start off, I had an amazing day with you all making prints! I loved getting my hands a bit dirty and diving right into making some interesting pieces. I thought Ali (and Calixto!) were both incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about printing and the process. One tip that Ali shared today that resonated with me was the idea of "liberating yourself from the rectangle." I loved that, both literally and figuratively, we practiced making non-rectangular things. I liked the process of cutting the styrofoam plate into different, non linear shapes and laying them over the previous print. This literal getting out the box also led me to think about my pieces more creatively. I think during Family Fun Days, it could be interesting to encourage visitors to also cut up their plates into more creative shapes.
(Overlapping prints with non-rectangular plates).
Logistically, I liked how all the different ink colors were kept separately as we were working. The very first Family Fun Day I worked last year included a tote bag making activity. It was really fun and the products were amazing but it got very, very messy. (We were also working with produce...that might have added to the mess a bit). I liked that today, we were able to get really crisp, clean colors instead of mixed globs of brown ink. Ali mentioned having separate places for each color which I think could be very beneficial.
Thank you again for a great day!
-Natalie
