Waller HS Students Learn, Design, Create Clothing Art
When Waller High School (WHS) Art Club students needed shirts to wear and represent their club, their teacher sponsors decided to turn the need into a learning opportunity. Instead of purchasing shirts from an outside vendor, art teachers Lea Kohn, Abigail Arellano, and Kyla Stanford decided to teach students how to create their own shirts from concept to design to screenprint. To create the shirts, students learned logo design, Adobe Illustrator, tie-dye, and screenprint technique.
“We wanted to do this because this ties Fine Arts with real-world applications,” Arellano said. “It shows students that there is always an opportunity to do something artistic.”
Students started by brainstorming ideas for their logos and learning how to digitize custom designs using Adobe Illustrator. Each student designed a logo that showcased all of the art classes offered at WHS, such as photography, art, painting, sculpture, and drawing. With each logo complete, students voted on their favorite design, which will be used for the shirt screenprint. To add an extra personal touch to the shirts and learn another art technique, students tie-dyed their shirts with a color scheme of their choice making every shirt unique and personal for each student.
“Art helps students become well-rounded people,” Arellano said. “It offers problem-solving, critical thinking, culture, and historical awareness as well as provides an outlet for self-expression through creativity.”
The shirts are in the process of curing from the tie-dye process. At the beginning of the spring semester, students will learn and practice screen printing their logo on the shirts. WHS has a 4-color press and four heaters that are used for screen printing. The 4-color press allows students to streamline the process of printing different colored inks onto a shirt creating a colorful logo. The heaters work to quickly dry the ink so it sets into the shirt. Using both pieces of equipment, students can create shirts in minutes. Due to the cost and time needed for the project, this project is starting only with the Art Club, but teachers hope to introduce the lesson in advanced art classes in future years.