Self-Portraits

Looking for a fun end of year art activity? Check out the National Gallery of Art classroom activities. I am fortunate to have a computer lab to take my classes to now and then. Yesterday I prepared my students for the NGA Self-Portrait lesson by playing a youtube slide show of Vincent Van Gogh paintings set to, of course, the Don McLean song, "Starry Night." Then students went to the NGA site and with a worksheet to guide them, learned about Van Gogh and the genre of self-portraiture.

Today students talked excitedly about the digital photographs we will take over the next few days - see the Self-portrait lesson on the NGA site. Because my teaching schedule is interrupted by lots of special end of year activities I needed an easy, self-directed art activity that the student could work on in between field trips, band performances, field days and waiting for access to the digital cameras. I came up with the idea of picture "frames" for the self-portraits.

Students used white colored pencil on black construction paper. They were given a list of 8 items to include in their frame, for instance: Two hopes, wishes or dreams, three personal characteristics, four activities they enjoy, five places they'd like to visit and so on. I told them they could use words, images, designs, symbols, fancy lettering and so on to complete their frames. So far, they're coming out great. Each frame is so different, and since it's basically doodling, the kids are having a great time, talking while they draw, sharing with each other the images and words they've chosen to represent themselves. I'll try to put a photo of some frames up on the blog in a few days, so check back!