The purpose of the Tri-County Art Club is to provide youth the opportunity to learn different art techniques and skills.  Ozaukee County Educator Jayna Hintz taught the group Printmaking at the last club meeting.  Keifenheim helped assist Hintz in walking the youth through three different printmaking techniques.  First youth made different prints using shaving cream and food coloring. This tended to be the youth’s favorite printing process of the night. The second technique is Monoprints with Acrylic Paint.  Youth loved putting paint on the plexiglass plates for their prints.  The last printing technique was additive print. Youth used various materials such as foil, yarn, hot glue, etc to build a block for printing that featured different textures. 

This meeting was a great example of Experiential learning, one of the 4-H Essential Elements, at its best.  The youth started the meeting by doing- the actual printing part of the meeting. Then youth reflected on the learning process.  Some youth commented that they would do something different if they were to do the printing process again.  Youth also shared what they liked or didn’t like.  The final part of the Experiential is applying what they learned. Many youth shared they would be applying the monoprinting with acrylic to make backgrounds for another painting project. Another youth was excited to do more printing at home and to explore different techniques.