Stamping Patterns with Middle Schoolers

After reading about Anne Nydam's One Inch Stamp Project on her blog Black and White, last month I carved a small flying fish stamp and played around with stamp tiling.

The past two weeks I had a chance to teach Nydam's lesson with my 4th-6th grade students in 2D Mixed Media at the University City Arts League. They did 3" rubber stamps.

"Year of the Goat"

4" x 4" linoleum cut stamp, printing with black oil-based ink on Stonehenge paper and hand-colored with watercolors.

Lo! the baby opens its mouth
Even when 'tis shown a flower. 

-Kubota Seifu-Jo

I made this stamp for a friend who is having a baby soon! The family of this child possess a great love for the natural world, appreciation for artistic expression, and identify profoundly with certain totems. Coming up with a suitable image was daunting at first as it seemed like such a tall order. But then this simple image of a stalwart goat guarding an egg - a symbol of both fragility and fertility - came to mind. A winter rowan tree expands behind the goat to honor the new child's mother. Green grass and the rising sun signal that winter will soon give way to spring and a new generation.