PROJECT ONE
SELF PORTRAIT I
Executive Function & Critical Thinking
Students see themselves in so many different ways and it can change multiple times even in one class period. In eighth grade students are overly concerned with a self-portrait looking like them and thus miss the skills they are to learn. To take the tension out of the assignment students simply transfer their portraits via "transfer paper", but concentrate on skills like shading, form, balance, movement, emphasis and more.
Here is a small sample with the promise of more to come by the weeks end.
Here is a small sample with the promise of more to come by the weeks end.
The slideshow below shows the finished project
The Reason Why... and What the Students were Thinking
For this piece of art, I wanted to really make the viewer LOOK. I rearranged the door, and parts of the floor because they would not be very obvious. If I rearranged my face , then that would be easily noticed at a glance. In order to make people look more, I rearranged things that would not be easy to see. From this I want people to learn that there are interesting things to be seen if they bother to stop and really study something.
I was inspired by my fondness of space, and how vast it is. This is why I have planets in the foreground and background.
"The Sad Story of the Birds Nest"
This portrait shows how on rainy days I am sad. I showed myself watching the bird because I felt sad because that storm made the nest fall and on that day I couldn't do what I wanted, which was to go play tennis. I had a guitar in the background because I love playing guitar.
I chose to put words in the background because I like to read, also I wanted it to be black and white, so my body would pop out. Then I colored only my body, my face stayed black and white because I feel like I am seeing the world, and myself, in black and white. I distorted my face and moved my eyes becasue I feel like my eyes watch over me even when I don't know. I feel like words surround me so that's what I replaced them with.
My Picture represents my rather simple life contrasting with my crazy, bold thoughts. I used pencil and colored pencil for the bottom half of the portrait, (me and the floor and part of the wall), because it is faded, simple and neat. I used marker and magazine pictures for the top half, (my thought bubble), because they are bolder and brighter. In my thought bubble are pictures of things and words that chose because I like them or they represent me and my thoughts. I mixed up the thought bubble to make it look more crazy as well. The frame of the portrait is simple, yet shows that I am colorful and playful, and maybe a little crazy. I have mixed a few pencil drawings of eyes in my thought bubble because I am observant and I like to watch rather than to interact.
[This] project gave me a lot of room to create what I wanted to create, under loose, but understandable guidelines. I decided to have my background be of magazine things, because I like to travel. I thought the scenery was pretty and made the background of my project. I mixed around the face, because I wanted to add depth to the picture and also because I want the project to look like an unsolved puzzle that is close to being complete. A little like how I see myself.
This is an attack on expectations.
A normal portrait would depict only its subject, just as they are. However, this portrait twists the subject into something obviously nonhuman - a symbol of our inability as humans, to separate ourselves from nature.
The surroundings are broken up to signify that everyone perceives things differently and parts of the subject are in the background to show that we are linked to the world around us, whether we like or not.
....I wanted people to see or get the reason why I did one side with pictures black and white and the other all colorful. My reasoning behind that is I have two sides - one happy and cheerful side and one angry and sad side, so I put them into one big picture that creates me or who I am
For my portrait, I chose the background of my house in northern WI. I chose this due to how serene and placid the scenery makes me feel. On top of the scenery is sulky, melancholy black sky. My portrait can be mixed by anything life gives, like a black sky.
In my work of art, I have created details on how and why I did what I did. I think all of the details on my background should be eloquent. Firstly, I would like to start with myself. I covered my mouth because I am a very quiet person. I rather listen and see what's going on around me, than speak nonsense words. I am also a very emotional person. The chaos on my left of the portrait has a piece of heart in the middle, it means that I've have been lied to and hurt many times.
Whenever I feel down I listen to music, but sometimes my music brings more chaos and the sound and rhythm become loud and crazy. The teardrops represent my sorrow and suffering, people would always say hurtful things and on the outside you act strong but sooner or later you know you're going to break down. The main point of my background is that, you don't really know people until they reach out to you, sometimes people keep their feelings hidden because they're very complicated to explain.
...When I have nothing to do, I start to draw random things and start to make a small collage, and also I like to draw the "Power Puff Girls" because they are a challenge for me to draw and I like to challenge myself.
Art lets me express who I am as a person because I don't like talking that much about myself so draw how I feel instead of trying to make myself say how I feel.
I used a diagonal cut because it is more interesting and gives more options for replacing squares. I split up my face and parts of the space behind me because in the portrait my mind is not in the same place as the rest of my body, so I detached parts of my head from [my] body. I also put parts of trees inside and around me because I like being outside and I like to be.
I was inspired by my fondness of space, and how vast it is. This is why I have planets in the foreground and background.
"The Sad Story of the Birds Nest"
This portrait shows how on rainy days I am sad. I showed myself watching the bird because I felt sad because that storm made the nest fall and on that day I couldn't do what I wanted, which was to go play tennis. I had a guitar in the background because I love playing guitar.
I chose to put words in the background because I like to read, also I wanted it to be black and white, so my body would pop out. Then I colored only my body, my face stayed black and white because I feel like I am seeing the world, and myself, in black and white. I distorted my face and moved my eyes becasue I feel like my eyes watch over me even when I don't know. I feel like words surround me so that's what I replaced them with.
My Picture represents my rather simple life contrasting with my crazy, bold thoughts. I used pencil and colored pencil for the bottom half of the portrait, (me and the floor and part of the wall), because it is faded, simple and neat. I used marker and magazine pictures for the top half, (my thought bubble), because they are bolder and brighter. In my thought bubble are pictures of things and words that chose because I like them or they represent me and my thoughts. I mixed up the thought bubble to make it look more crazy as well. The frame of the portrait is simple, yet shows that I am colorful and playful, and maybe a little crazy. I have mixed a few pencil drawings of eyes in my thought bubble because I am observant and I like to watch rather than to interact.
[This] project gave me a lot of room to create what I wanted to create, under loose, but understandable guidelines. I decided to have my background be of magazine things, because I like to travel. I thought the scenery was pretty and made the background of my project. I mixed around the face, because I wanted to add depth to the picture and also because I want the project to look like an unsolved puzzle that is close to being complete. A little like how I see myself.
This is an attack on expectations.
A normal portrait would depict only its subject, just as they are. However, this portrait twists the subject into something obviously nonhuman - a symbol of our inability as humans, to separate ourselves from nature.
The surroundings are broken up to signify that everyone perceives things differently and parts of the subject are in the background to show that we are linked to the world around us, whether we like or not.
....I wanted people to see or get the reason why I did one side with pictures black and white and the other all colorful. My reasoning behind that is I have two sides - one happy and cheerful side and one angry and sad side, so I put them into one big picture that creates me or who I am
For my portrait, I chose the background of my house in northern WI. I chose this due to how serene and placid the scenery makes me feel. On top of the scenery is sulky, melancholy black sky. My portrait can be mixed by anything life gives, like a black sky.
In my work of art, I have created details on how and why I did what I did. I think all of the details on my background should be eloquent. Firstly, I would like to start with myself. I covered my mouth because I am a very quiet person. I rather listen and see what's going on around me, than speak nonsense words. I am also a very emotional person. The chaos on my left of the portrait has a piece of heart in the middle, it means that I've have been lied to and hurt many times.
Whenever I feel down I listen to music, but sometimes my music brings more chaos and the sound and rhythm become loud and crazy. The teardrops represent my sorrow and suffering, people would always say hurtful things and on the outside you act strong but sooner or later you know you're going to break down. The main point of my background is that, you don't really know people until they reach out to you, sometimes people keep their feelings hidden because they're very complicated to explain.
...When I have nothing to do, I start to draw random things and start to make a small collage, and also I like to draw the "Power Puff Girls" because they are a challenge for me to draw and I like to challenge myself.
Art lets me express who I am as a person because I don't like talking that much about myself so draw how I feel instead of trying to make myself say how I feel.
I used a diagonal cut because it is more interesting and gives more options for replacing squares. I split up my face and parts of the space behind me because in the portrait my mind is not in the same place as the rest of my body, so I detached parts of my head from [my] body. I also put parts of trees inside and around me because I like being outside and I like to be.
PROJECT TWO
SELF-PORTRAIT 2 DISTORTIONS
In this presentation of self-portraits the skill goal that the students were working to achieve was to create a gradation of tones in addition to accentuating a particular feature and distorting it.
Why I magnified my...
"... I like doing through sight, (reading about things...) and learn sense things via smell".
"...eye because I think my eyes are pretty and I take in everything through my eyes. It is BIG because they store so much".
"I am using the metaphor, a jar of bloody passion. It represents me".
"I made this piece the way I did because I wanted to accentuate my eye, but not from the front view. I used a lot of different tones, especially in my hair. I wanted to focus on my eye because I really like their colors and tones, and I think they represent me in a way. I look kind of timid in the picture, which was not intended, but I think it kind of works because I am kind of shy. I think I did a good job of finding the different tones in my hair, but I could have done that a bit better on my shoulder".
"The reason I chose my eye was because only you see the world around you everyone else sees it differently and you see it in your own way".
The reason why I zoomed up on my mouth is because it's smiling. I'm a really quiet person but all I can do is smile it's like a mask, hiding all my emotion. A smile is something everyone needs, it cheers you up and can save someones life. My background is lighter near me because everywhere around me is full of darkness".
"When you see my drawing perhaps the first thing you see is the magnifying glass magnifying my mouth and chin. I chose this area because I felt like it would be less chosen. Also, I needed to make a snap decision. There are no hidden meanings. unless you find some".
"...My cheek...Honestly I had no real reason why I didn't wanna be original and magnify my eye. Everyone should be unique"
"....My smile because I like funny things that make me smile and laugh. I also thought it would make the picture look funny, which would make me laugh, which would make me laugh and smile when I see it which I like to do"
"...my eye because I like to observe everything..."
"...my eyeball because I like how my eye looked reflected. I also chose to reflect my eye because I have another one so you can see the difference of my reflected eye and normal sized eye".
"I did my eye because I like to see new things or things that I like, like soccer, golf and fun places"
"...the side piece of me glasses because they mean so much to me. Without my glasses, I wouldn't be able to see things in my life, and I wouldn't be able to function the same way I do now. I turned my head to the side to show off my highlights and to hide my face. I I wanted my face hidden to show that some things about people can only be learned by looking at them with a different perspective. If you face everything and everyone head on, you'll miss a lot of other information"
"The things that talk to me are books and animals, who will never tell anyone my secrets. I wanted to show the eye because I like to see and watch things more than speak. And I like being around my family to see them in France. I like to visit places, countries. I can be a very quiet person. I like to see new worlds through the pages of books".
"...my mouth because I have a lot to say about the world. I think the best work I did was in doing the shadows on the tight-colored shirt. Next time I shade with pastels, I will try to blend the shadows on my face, because I think I did poorly spreading around contrast and putting shadows in the right places".
"...my eye, because I have seen the world with my eye(s), and will continue to see more"
"...my ear is because I like to listen to music. I use my ears 24/7/365, pretty much always"
"The mouth is a vessel for words. It gives thoughts life, sends ideas into the world where they're tested and tossed away or turned into something beautiful. As such, I chose to magnify it here"
"...my nose because I strongly use smell to identify things. I drew myself under a stool to show depth in my picture"
"...my eyes because I like to observe... but I also did my mouth, because when others are talking, I enjoy talking with them"
'...my eyes because they are my favorite part of my face. I crossed my eyes to show that I;m not serious"
"...my ear because I really have good hearing"
"...I love my eyes I feel that they make me who I am. I feel like that because my eyelashes are long and I love them. Also because sometimes when my sister ask me to get something I act like I can't see it when I really can, and she gets upset with me. And sometimes she does the same thing to me then I just leave her alone. Then I do what needs [to] get done on my own and so does she".
"...I wanted to show that in the chaos you can still see through IT"
"I chose a mirror because I'm proud of myself. I'm grateful for my life and not just one thing about myself".
PROJECT THREE
Self-Portrait 3 - Lines
This self-portrait was all about the lines and understanding how varying the weight and spacing of lines can create tones and form. Students took what they learned from the previous lesson when mapping of tones and worked directly on maps, and used the boundaries of the map as an added challenge... Look for yourself and see. The rationales are like map legends.
PROJECT FOUR
Free Choice Self-Portrait
Students worked on this project for five minutes every Friday, (sometimes Monday), for the past nine weeks. I called these the nine 3x3's and a 5x7. Students had to produce a snapshot drawing, (a check-in of sorts), of how they were feeling. They wrote a sentence or word about how they were feeling and then went back to work on whatever project they happened to be working on. It's a neat way of looking back...