History Depicted through Art
Source/Author: Aaron Sober, Upper School Art Teacher
May 04, 2017
Have you seen the amazing black vinyl and plywood artwork in the SAC? Each project depicts a historical moment selected by its designer with stark graphics. They are digital design projects completed by Aaron Sober’s Upper School graphic design class.
The students looked at the artwork of Kara Walker for inspiration. She uses black paper cut by hand to make artwork on themes of slavery and race. After students determined which moment in history they wanted to capture, they used Adobe Illustrator graphics software to create 1-color graphics depicting their visions. The art was then opened with SureCuts printer software and cut with the digital cutter in the Makerspace out of 2x2 ft. sticky, black vinyl. Students then removed the negative shapes, transferred the image to transfer paper, and applied them to wood.
“I think the kids liked it and realized they were making effective work. I wanted graphic design to produce something tangible, not just a jpeg [computer image file].” explains Mr. Sober.
