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WABI-SABI MASHUP - Monoprint Collage

SEASON 6  |  PROJECT 4/42  |  02.03.25

MODULE:  Printmaking, Collage  |  GRADE LEVELS:  1 - 6  |  DURATION:  1 Hour

ARTIST VIDEO

Video Editing by Jorge Davies, Graphics by Melissa Sabol

PROJECT VIDEO

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OVERVIEW

For this two-part project, students will create beautiful Wabi-Sabi sculptural collages from their own monoprints. First they will create a series of experimental prints using various printmaking techniques by incorporating everyday objects - natural and manmade - to explore patterns and textures. Then they will analyze their prints, cut them into interesting shapes, experiment with composition, and reassemble them into dynamic sculptural collages.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT​

  • Introduces Printmaking Techniques – Students experiment with relief, stencil, and direct object printing, learning key art techniques in a hands-on way.

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  • Reinforces Key Artistic Concepts – Covers positive & negative space, contrast, texture, layering, and repetition, essential elements of visual art.

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  • Develops Observation Skills – Helps students notice patterns and textures in everyday objects, fostering a deeper appreciation for their environment.

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  • Explorations of Composition and Spatial Relationships – By cutting, repositioning, layering, and assembling prints, students develop spatial awareness and design intuition.

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  • Explores Wabi-Sabi Philosophy – Students experience the beauty of imperfection, chance, and spontaneity, learning to value process over perfection.

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  • Develops an Understanding of Chance in Art – Teaches that unexpected results can lead to powerful and unique creative outcomes.

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  • Repurposing Objects – Students will explore how everyday objects can be repurposed and transformed into meaningful works of art, discovering new ways to give old things new life.

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  • Strengthens Fine Motor Skills – Activities like cutting, painting, layering, and assembling improve dexterity and hand-eye coordination.

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  • Developing resilience through trial and error – Students will refine and rework elements of their collage through trial and error, developing resilience as they explore meaning and message in their artwork.

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  • Embracing experimentation and spontaneity – Through printmaking, students will embrace experimentation to create dynamic prints, discovering how each variable in the process influences the final result.

MATERIALS

Part 1:

  • Heavyweight CardStock (110 lb) - multiple colors

  • Acrylic Paint - multiple colors

  • Sponges - 1 per color

  • Cardboard - big corrugation 

  • Newspaper Print - 1 for mat and 1 paint palette

  • Found Objects, i.e. bubblewrap, yarn, plastic wrap, leaf, tangerine, piece of wood, plastic bottle, bottle cap, fabric

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Part 2:

  • Scissors

  • Canary Cardboard Cutter

  • Glue Stick and/or Gel Glue

  • Scraps of Cardboard

FEATURED ARTIST

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BARBARA SPILLER

Barbara Spiller is a Los Angeles-based artist with a rich background in arts education. She was a drawing instructor at New York University and has also served as a program developer and trainer at The Studio in a School. Additionally, Barbara worked as a Master Teacher in the aesthetic education program at the Lincoln Center Institute.

 

Barbara describes her artistic process as “bricolage,” working intuitively with whatever materials are at hand. From a young age, she was drawn to collecting and creating with found objects, a practice that later aligned with the Japanese philosophy of “wabi-sabi,” which embraces transience and imperfection. Her work is inspired by natural patterns—topographic views from the air, plants spread across the ground, or the tide’s offerings on the shore. Nature, she says, provides endless compositions.

 

Her process involves collecting, assembling, and recombining elements, allowing spontaneous relationships to emerge. This reassembly introduces possibilities she never would have imagined, making each piece a discovery in itself.

ARTISTS TO KNOW

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Howardena Pindell

Howardena Pindell is an American abstract painter and mixed-media artist celebrated for her innovative techniques and use of diverse materials. Known for her abstract paintings and mixed-media work, Pindell’s creative process often involves the deconstruction and reworking of materials such as photographs, postcards, and found objects. This approach reflects her exploration of fragmentation and memory, especially following a car accident in 1979 that caused her to suffer memory loss. After this experience, Pindell began incorporating these materials into her art as a way to reconstruct and examine her fragmented memories. Her technique of layering and cutting these materials is a key aspect of her artistic practice.

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Howardena Pindell, Autobiography: Scapegoat, 1990, Mixed media on canvas, 72 x 141 inches, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, NY, USA.

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Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg was a famous American artist who worked in many mediums, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, performance, and photography. He often collected everyday objects from the streets of New York City, using “whatever the day laid out,” as he once said. These found items became part of his Combines—artworks that blended painting and sculpture, such as his iconic piece Canyon. Rauschenberg’s use of popular culture images, like magazine clippings and newspaper photos, helped usher in the Pop Art movement.

 

Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon, 1959, Oil, pencil, paper, metal, photograph, fabric, wood, canvas, buttons, mirror, taxidermied eagle, cardboard, pillow, paint tube and other materials, 81 3/4 x 70 x 24" (207.6 x 177.8 x 61 cm), © 2025 Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

Arturo Herrera.jpg

Arturo Herrera
Arturo Herrera is an artist from Venezuela, known for creating artwork through collage. Herrera’s collages are made by cutting, layering, and combining pieces from his own prints and other materials. By taking his prints apart and putting them back together, he creates art that mixes familiar images, like characters from pop culture, with abstract designs. His work tells stories that invite viewers to connect with it, using their own memories and experiences.

Arturo Herrera, Untitled, 2021,  mixed media and collage on paper, 100 x 70 cm

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Sari Dienes
Sari Dienes was a Hungarian artist who used the city around her to make art. She worked with many mediums like painting, ceramics, and even sound art, but she’s most famous for her large prints of things she found in the city, like manhole covers and subway grates. She would make rubbings of these objects to capture their textures and patterns, creating art that showed the everyday details of the city. Her work inspired famous artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Sari Dienes taught us how we can find beauty and art in the things we see every day.

Sari Dienes, Menomonie 7, c. 1966, rubbing on fabric, 35 x 28 inches

VOCABULARY

  • Balance – The way shapes, colors, and objects are arranged so that no part of the artwork feels too heavy or out of place. Balance helps make a picture or sculpture feel stable, organized, or even exciting

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  • Chance – Letting unexpected things happen in your artwork, like surprising textures, random patterns, or happy accidents. It’s about experimenting, not always knowing exactly how something will turn out, and embracing the surprises!

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  • Construction – Putting different pieces together to create something new. It can mean building, layering, or assembling materials to make a collage, sculpture, or any kind of artwork.

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  • Contrast – The way different things stand out from each other in an artwork, like light and dark colors, big and small shapes, or rough and smooth textures. Contrast makes art more interesting and helps certain parts pop!

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  • Deconstruction – Taking something apart to see it in a new way. In art, this can mean cutting, tearing, or rearranging pieces to create something completely different and unexpected!

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  • Experimentation – Trying out new ideas, materials, or techniques to see what happens—without worrying about making mistakes. 

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  • Geometric – Shapes or patterns that are regular and precise, like circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles. 

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  • Ghost Print – A lighter, second print made using the leftover ink from the first print.

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  • Imperfection – The beauty of flaws, mistakes, and unexpected results that make an artwork unique.

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  • Intuition – A feeling or idea that comes from inside you, like knowing what looks good in your art without needing to plan it all out. 

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  • Layering –  Stacking colors, textures, or shapes on top of each other to make your artwork more interesting and full of depth. 

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  • Monoprinting – A way of making one-of-a-kind prints by painting or rolling ink onto a surface and pressing paper on top to transfer the design. This allows for painterly and experimental effects. 

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  • Negative Space – The empty or unoccupied area around the subject, contributing to balance and contrast.

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  • Object Printing – Printing with natural or everyday objects (e.g., leaves, bubble wrap, branches) by coating them with paint and pressing them onto paper to capture textures and forms.

 

  • Organic – Shapes that look natural, like clouds, leaves, or tree branches. They are usually curvy, uneven, and not perfectly straight, just like things found in nature!

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  • Patterns – A design that repeats the same shapes, colors, or lines over and over, like stripes, dots, or zigzags. Patterns can be found in nature, clothes, and all kinds of art! 

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  • Positive Space – The area of a composition that contains the subject or main focus.

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  • Printmaking – A way of making art by pressing, stamping, or rolling ink onto a surface to create pictures and patterns.

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  • Relief Printing – A type of printmaking where the raised parts of a surface get inked and pressed onto paper, like using a rubber stamp.

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  • Relief Sculpture – A type of artwork where some parts stick out from a flat surface, but it’s not a full 3D shape. It’s like a picture that pops out a little.

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  • Repetition – Using the same shapes, colors, or patterns over and over to make your artwork look exciting and balanced.

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  • Sculptural Collage – A type of artwork where you layer, stack, and build with paper, prints, or found objects to make your art stand up and have depth instead of staying flat like a drawing. It’s like a mix of a collage and a sculpture!

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  • Screenprinting – A way of printing by pushing ink through a mesh screen with a stencil to create a picture or design.

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  • Spontaneity – Creating without overthinking—just going with the flow! It means trying new things, making quick decisions, and letting surprises happen in your artwork.

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  • Stencil Printing – A technique where paint or ink is applied through a cut-out shape to create a design on a surface.

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  • Texture – How something feels or looks like it feels! It can be rough like tree bark, smooth like glass, or bumpy like bubble wrap. In art, you can create texture by using different materials, brushstrokes, or patterns.

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  • Wabi-Sabi – ​​a Japanese idea that teaches us to find beauty in things that aren’t perfect. In art, it means liking little flaws, rough edges, and natural changes—like cracks in an old pot, the uneven lines of a handmade drawing, or the chance outcome of a print. Instead of making things look perfect, Wabi-Sabi helps us appreciate the unique, the worn, and the unexpected!

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