Katsushika Hokusai

1. Katsushika Hokusai Printmaking Waterfall from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

2. Katsushika HokusaiPrintmaking • Katsushika was a Japanese artist and printmaker in the early 1800s • Printmaking is using a tool dipped into ink or paint and touched to the paper to leave a “print” • He was always on the move, creating over 30,000 paintings during his life-that is nearly 2 each day! • This particular piece is called, The Great Wave of Kanagawa from around 1820 and part of a series of woodblock prints called Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji that Katsushika did with Mount Fuji as his landmark – can you see Mount Fuji?

3. Katsushika HokusaiPrintmaking • Here’s another piece with Mount Fuji in the background, Wind at Ejiri • Have you ever felt the wind blow like this around here? • Notice the texture of the grass and the trees. We can almost see it blowing in the wind and feel the bumps on the tree • We imply texture by using repeated lines and patterns • Also notice the horizon line – a line that goes from the left side to the right side of the paper that shows us where the ground/water meet with the sky • Katsushika also includes a few people or landmarks in his prints to show where he is or who is in the picture – can you see Mount Fuji and the people in this picture?

4. Katsushika HokusaiPrintmaking • We chose to talk about Katsushika this month due to his focus on nature and to extend the conversation about Earth Day and show how we can use reuse materials to help us create art • We will be reusing sterilized Styrofoam meat trays, giving them one more purpose to create great art before throwing them away • When we are done with those meat trays, it will take them over 1 million years to decompose in a landfill – so try not to use Styrofoam if you don’t have to! Ocean Waves, Date Unknown

5. Katsushika HokusaiPrintmaking Now let’s watch while I demonstrate how to create our print on the Styrofoam • First I will make sure my art smock is on • Now I will create a drawing of nature – think of a place you might go this summer or just went on spring break…was there a special landmark that location is known for? If so, show us what it looked like or what you imagine it will look like • Start your drawing with that landmark and people, then add in a horizon line (the line that shows where the ground/water meets the sky), then texture for trees, or water, or other details • If I’m not so sure of what I want to draw on my Styrofoam, I can use a sketch paper – and practice a drawing to get some ideas first as I cannot erase once I use my pencil on the Styrofoam! • While drawing onto the foam, I will use the smoothest side (no indents of lines) • I will press down with a duller pencil, but not too hard to put a hole into it • I will not be using any numbers or words (since there really aren’t any of those in nature and they won’t turn out correctly when I make my print) • And I will use lots of texture (use texture page reference we will be giving you) as the more lines and texture I add, the more interesting my print will be

6. Katsushika HokusaiPrintmaking Now we are going to head back to our desks… We will have 10 minutes to draw our image, then we will look back up front from our desks for the printing directions If you need to practice some texture or are waiting for the next set of directions, quietly work on your texture practice sheet we will give you

7. Katsushika HokusaiPrintmaking Now let’s watch while I demonstrate how to print our picture onto the paper • First I need to “register my corners” so I will take my dry foam and lay it on my paper and gently trace just around the four corners so that I know where I want to lay my foam when I turn it upside down – print your name on your paper at this point as well! • Next I will go to the printing table and with the help of the art assistant, we will roll the ink onto my foam • After the ink is on the foam, I will quickly turn it over, match it with the corners I drew and press it down onto the paper – ink side down – DO NOT try to adjust where you have placed it once the ink has touched the paper or it will just smear • I will use my fist to press hard (without sliding the foam) for about 1 minute so that I know the ink has transferred onto the paper • Then I lift up and I will see my print!

8. Katsushika HokusaiPrintmaking • Lastly I need to clean-up my Styrofoam block – • Walk carefully to the clean up bucket, use small sponge to wipe off ink and use the towel to dry the Styrofoam and take it back to your desk Okay – now it’s your turn to print – while waiting for your turn to print, you can be finishing your drawing on the foam or working on the texture practice • And remember, when it is your turn to print, bring your foam up to the inking table, choose a color paper to print on and a color of ink to use

9. Katsushika HokusaiPrintmaking Let’s review what we learned today: • Printmaking is using a tool dipped into ink or paint and touched to the paper to leave a “print” • We imply texture by repeating lines and patterns to look like the texture of grass or bumps of tree bark, etc. • A horizon line is a line that goes from the left side to the right side of the paper that shows us where the ground/water meet with the sky • It will take Styrofoam over 1 million years to decompose in a landfill • Katsushika was an artist from Japan and Mount Fuji is a famous landmark in Japan

10. Katsushika HokusaiPrintmaking Discussion Questions: • Who is the artist we studied today? • What work is he most know for? • What is printmaking? • What is a horizon line? • How long will it take Styrofoam to decompose in a landfill? • How do we imply texture in artwork? • Did you like this method of creating art? • What would you call your art piece?