Endangered Species Series Foam Printmaking with 6th Grade Art Students!

6th grader's animal prints inspired by Andy Warhol's Endangered Species series

We just finished our foam printmaking project based on Andy Warhol's endangered species series. Each student got a styrofoam tray and cut off the edges so they had a flat piece of foam. Before students started carving, we had a critical response discussion about Andy's endangered species series. I had students discuss the following after showing them "Grevy's Zebra":
-What do they notice? (No judgments "I notice....")
-What does it remind you of? (memory, song, experience, another artwork, etc.)
-How does it make you feel?
-What do you think the artist was trying to say in this work?
This took approximately 25 minutes, but it was a great way to get my kids really looking at the artwork. They also brought up some really good points

Mayo Clinic collection of Warhol's Endangered Species series

The cool thing about living in Rochester is that we actually have a set of Andy Warhol's Endangered Species Series here at the Mayo Clinic. They are free to view, however, they do not do field trips or tours. This was fun, since some of my kiddos said they had seen this artworks in real life. 

After our discussion about Andy Warhol's work, I had students choose an animal to draw. I tiered the assignment so students of all abilities could feel a sense of accomplishment. The lower level students were allowed to trace an animal. The middle level students were allowed to draw from observation by looking at a picture of the animal. The higher level students were encouraged to draw the animal from memory or based on an idea. This allowed my gifted and talented students a little more freedom and independence, which I think they enjoyed. It also allowed my lower level students to feel like they could create an awesome work of art. I'm not a huge fan of tracing, but it has it's time and place in every art class.

Once they drew their animals, they had to show me their drawing in order to get their foam. They taped the paper to the foam and started tracing over their design. They went over their designs with a blunt pencil or mechanical pencil with no lead. Next, we started printing! After they printed 3 different prints, I had some students outline their lines with oil pastel to add an Andy Warhol look to their work. You can view the demo video I played for my students at the end of this post. View examples of my students work below.

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