DRY-POINT ETCHING

This is a selection of work that emerged from an eight week printmaking unit of learning with 5th Year students which propelled the learner into the realm of Surrealism and the uncanny. Students combined the familiar (the self-portrait) with the unfamiliar (grotesque, bizarre, dreamlike imagery) to create surrealist self-portraits. Students were empowered to see beyond the formalities of typical portraiture by combining observational drawing with imaginative drawing to create unique self-portraits with a distinct sense of strangeness. Students experimented, investigated and developed ideas through drawing in their sketchbooks before selecting one final drawing to execute in a dry-point etching. Learners acquired knowledge of the dry-point etching process and formulated a deeper understanding of line in art through their experimentation with mark making and various incision techniques.