2008 Woodie Awards
Silkscreening students challenge norms
Brandon Morrison
Issue date: 4/14/05 Section: News
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In fact, Braden's handout only had three words printed on it: "This is Artwork."
Braden's artwork was part of a class project for Silkscreening 2130. The class, taught by art professor Christie Nuell, shows students the ropes in the process of printmaking and how to apply that knowledge to the rest of their artwork.
"Printmaking is not about producing just one piece, but 20," Nuell said.
Nuell said that the ability to produce large amounts of artwork is the strength of printmaking. It allows the artist to reach a wider audience.
The assignment for the class is simple: replicate or mimic real documents and distribute them to the unknowing masses. The catch is that the new documents should have a twist about them.
"The project is about taking art to a different audience through a different process than the usual," art education major Jess Colley said.
Colley wanted to do something about women's negative view of their own bodies. The art education major made bookmarks that told women that they were beautiful. She placed these bookmarks in women's magazines at various stores around town.
Part of the assignment required students to document the reaction to their work.
Junior Ben Stewart decided to follow restaurant's traditions of giving out "employee of the month" awards. He created blue and grey doorknob hangers, awarding apartment tenants with a "Tenant of the Month" award. On the back, the recipients could turn in a small card with their picture on it to show their "Tenant of the Month" status.
"I put one of the door hangers on my neighbors door," Stewart said. "When one of them came out, she saw it and started yelling at her roommate 'Hey, come look at this!' She was pretty excited about it."
While Nuell's students said they enjoy the class, the broad scope of the assignments can be overwhelming at first for some students. According to graphic design major Cara Charleston, without a specific starting point to work from, it's easy to get stuck in the brainstorming process.
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