CAPS! Print with Me
With Eitaro Ogawa and Tamae Iwasaki
Compiled by:
Ms. Chua Lee Beng, Lead Teacher (Art), St. Anthony’s Canossian Primary School
Mdm. Ong Theng Choo, Art Teacher, Fuhua Secondary School
Eitaro and Tamae set us on a path to
find and define our artistic identity
both as an individual and as a
community with the theme -- Who
Am I? This search for our identity was
challenging but exciting as we dug
deep into ourselves to answer the
question. Eitaro and Tamae aided
us in our artistic processes through
one-on-one consultations with them.
A
small and cozy group of six art teachers spent five enriching days working
and learning from the master printers, Eitaro Ogawa and Tamae Iwasaki.
With the intention of helping us understand how printmaking works, Eitaro
and Tamae exposed us to various techniques of printmaking such as relief
printing, intaglio printing, stamping and stencilling. Through the introduction
of their own works and those of other artists, we discussed and looked into the
boundary of what printmaking is and could be. They wanted us to adopt an
experimental and exploratory mindset in employing printmaking techniques.
The possibilities seemed endless as it depended on one’s definition of the
word ‘print’. In our explorations, we were encouraged to push the boundary
of printmaking, to be fearless in breaking the rules and trying new things.
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to get unexpected textures, these
experiments were always affirmed by
Eitaro and Tamae with constructive
feedback.
As participants, we quickly formed
a bond with our sensei in the few
days together, with spontaneous
conversations,
discussing,
researching and experimenting while
we created our works. We shared our
thoughts on art, our life experiences
and had many moments of laughter
together. Truly, our sensei embodied
the genuine meaning of creating a
safe, joyful and exciting classroom
environment for their students to be.
For example, when one of us tried
something new, like stuffing the prints
into cups, shining a light through the
plastic matrix to get a shadow ‘print’,
or rubbing textures on the floor
Creating frottage rubbings.
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