Still Life Self Portraits With 7th Grade

Self portraits can be daunting, but students can express themselves without painting a traditional portrait. This project is based on one that the art teacher at Amherst Middle School, Rachel Rouillard, does with her 7th grade students. Students learn about self-portraits (traditional and non-traditional) and then bring in three objects from home to arrange into a composition and paint. Rachel has the students use acrylic and paint a mini composition (I think 4" square on canvas board, if I remember correctly). With the group of 7th graders I had at the time, I thought I'd try having them use ink, watercolor and colored pencil--I think that combination offers students more control and they can still explore value and color-mixing using paint.

These photos don't seem to do justice to these pieces.
They are really beautiful in person!

We spent a good amount of time sketching and working on composition for these pieces so that they were dynamic. I did not specify the size for the final pieces and there was a nice variety of little compositions and larger ones. The only trouble I ran into with this project was having the students bring in items from home--that just didn't work well for some. I'm not sure how I would work that in the future (perhaps give them the chance to bring objects in, but if they don't they use objects from the classroom?).

Anyway, I was SUPER-impressed by the work the students did. I think some of them were too! Once these were on display, they generated lots of discussion and comments from the middle school students and teachers in the hallway outside of class. ENJOY!

I like the inclusion of body spray in this one. ;-)

Some students preferred to focus on one object at a time.
I like how this student worked the background as well
adding color around each object and a shadow below.

This student also wanted to have the objects separate because he felt they were easier
to read with some space between them. He did a nice job with the details
and these objects have a great deal of personal significance to him.

And here are more of the students' work from the display...

And even more! Finished pieces were mounted onto mat board.
I feel this elevates the work from ho-hum to a finished piece worthy of display
(and preparing work for presentation is one of the National Core Art Standards).

Milton Glaser/Bob Dylan Inspired Self-Portraits

Back in college, I took a entire semester of "The History of Graphic Design." One of the designers and illustrators we learned about was Milton Glaser. He is probably best known as the creator of the iconic "I (Heart) NY" logo.

Another design of his that has always stayed with me is the illustration he did for Columbia Records showing a silhouette of Bob Dylan with his hair drawn in colorful strands. The color and movement in this piece is just so great. It says "creativity" to me and it really does look like Dylan!

Milton Glaser/Bob Dylan-Inspired Self Portraits

Supplies Needed: 

• A printout of the profile of the student (fill the entire 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper)
• Black piece of construction paper
• Stapler
• Pencil
• Scissors
• One 9" x 12" sheet of white construction paper
• Glue stick
• Black permanent marker (we used Sharpies)
• Various colored markers
• Scraps of colored paper for name, optional

Directions:

1. On the printout of the photo, use your pencil to draw a line outlining the body and the skin of the student (not the hair)--no inner details. Staple the printout to a sheet of black construction paper. Cut through both layers of paper along the pencil line (careful to not cut into the hair portion--you'll need that later).

2. Glue the black cutout of the head/body to the white piece of construction paper.

3. Cut out the hair from the printout. Discard the background. Place the hair onto the background and trace around it with the pencil. 

4. Use your pencil to divide the hair into locks. Refer to the printout of your hair to see the direction of how the hair flows. Once all of the hair area is divided up into "tubes" use a Sharpie to trace your pencil lines.

5. Add color to your hair using the markers.

6. Write your name on scrap bits of construction paper, cut out and glue to the bottom edge of the silhouette. 

Look at that funky, creative self-portrait!

Printmaking: Warhol Self Portraits

For my last after school Modern Art class I wanted my students to explore the work of Andy Warhol. Last time we studied Warhol, we did the Handy Andy prints (which are a popular one on my blog and with my students). This time, I wanted to have them try printmaking so they could explore the Pop Art  repetitive printed images of Warhol's. With this project we are using foam trays to make a printmaking plate similar to a linocut or woodcut, but without the sharp tools.

This student loves to create Manga-inspired art.
I love this piece because it shows her interests and
is definitely a POP art piece--Warhol would be impressed!

This was a great first "real" printmaking project and the results are always so bright and fun. Some children really embrace this technique and I had one student complete TWO projects with the class time since she was having some much fun. I also did the project one-on-one with my Kindergardener and he loved it too. Clean-up is great since I used water-soluble printmaking ink (although I would love to try something in the future that is more permanent so that the kids could add color with watercolors afterwards...).

This might be a bit of an expense to buy the roller (brayer) if you are doing this project at home, but once you have the supplies on had you ca make a bunch of great prints for gifts, stationary, etc. Give it a try!

Faux Linocut Warhol Self Portraits

Supplies Needed:
Adjust the dimensions of your supplies based on the size of the foam trays you are using...

• A few 4" x 5 1/2" pieces of white paper for drawing your design 
• Pencils and erasers
• Foam trays or styrofoam plates
• Masking tape
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• A scrap piece of cardboard or mat board slightly larger than your foam printing "plate"
• Water soluble printmaking ink
• Brayer (I use the Speedball 4" soft rubber brayer)
• A few 5" x 7" pieces of colored paper (smooth paper with bright colors work well)
• Glue stick
• Large piece of construction paper to mount the finished prints on

Directions:

1. Use the pencil to draw a simple self portrait on the white piece of paper. Make it unique--just like you, but don't get too detailed. 

2. Place the drawing onto the foam tray and tape down. Trace the lines of your drawing with a dull pencil. Press down enough to leave an impression in the foam tray, but not hard enough to poke all the way through the foam or shred the paper drawing. This takes some practice...using the pencil at a slight angle helps. Once you've traced the drawing, remove the drawing and go over the lines you made in the foam tray to make them a bit deeper.

3. Mount your finished foam printing plate to the cardboard using hot glue.

4. Squeeze some printmaking ink onto a spare foam plate or foam tray. Use your brayer (roller) to move the ink around, coating the roller with ink. You don't need it gooping with ink--a nice even coating works best. Roll the inked brayer over your foam printing plate. Lay a piece of colored paper o top of the inked printing plate and press gently with your fingertips. I had the children use one hand to hold the paper still while the other rubbed the image. Remove the paper to see the transferred image. 

5. Repeat as may times as you wish. I had the children make at least four copies of the image ad the they mounted them onto a larger piece of construction paper once the prints were dry.

Enjoy!

This guy is super-cute, too! 

Love the freckles!

And this piece is super-sweet! It makes me smile!

Archimboldo Food Portrait by my Preschooler

Sometimes you need to just embrace fun. Today, when I was cutting up food for snack, my preschooler, Third Son, came up to me and started rearranging the cantaloupe on the plate to look like hair and a smile. It would have been easy to shoo him away. But, then I got an idea: out came the whipped cream, blueberries and strawberries and I asked him to make a picture with his food. Yep, "Play with your food, my boy!"

He made a butterfly, then a picture of a man with a goatee that looked like a family friend, then Santa Claus, then he settled on this guy:

"Fruit Man" by Third Son
(he even took the photo, too)

While he was eating, I grabbed my Art History book and showed him this painting by Renaissance painter Giuseppe Archimboldo entitled "Spring" (c. 1573). We talked and laughed about how funny the person in the painting looked and how yummy our people tasted.

I hope you have fun with your kids today!

Spring, 1573
Giuseppe Archimboldo