Lithography in the schools

Lithography is a print medium which allows the artist almost complete freedom in terms of image development. It is the fastest growing art medium on the North American Continent. However, until now, this important print medium has virtually been ignored in the high schools. The reasons for the omission in the high school art programs are financial and technical. The traditional methods of establishing a lithography workshop requires a vast amount of money, usually much more than the average art department's budget could afford. The technical difficulties involved not only in setting up the workshop but also in the processing and printing of the lithographs seemed to have finished any furthur discussion of establishing facilities at the high school level. Drawing upon fourteen years acquaintance with lithography, the experience of setting up a lithographic workshop on a small budget and experience as a high school art teacher I am attempting in this thesis to provide alternate methods for establishing a lithographic program in the schools. The teacher, although he may be lacking in any technical knowledge of lithography, should be able to follow the instructions set down in the thesis and be able to start a litho program with his classes. Included in the thesis are instruction whereby the teacher can start his classes using almost soley the existing facilities found in most art rooms or he can, if budget allows, develope a full facility including all aspects of lithography. All the equipment has been built by the writer and all the procedures have been tested. I am sure that by diligently following the instructions any art teacher could provide an interesting and rewarding lithographic program for his students.Education, Faculty ofGraduat