Introduction to Portraits in Art History

Last week, in Art class, I finished teaching a unit on Still Life and began a Portrait unit, starting with some of the most famous portraits in Art History. We discussed everyone from Rembrant to Picasso, Valesquez to VanGogh.  

Rembrandt, Margritte, and Vermeer paintings came to life in my Art Class

My students picked a favorite painting to personify, and dressed up as the subject. It was a lot of fun tryinig to scavenge for beads, black t-shirts, gauze, crepe paper, wigs, hats, fabric, and flowers. I brought Halloween make up and scarves from home Monday morning and between that, the box of prom table runners, and another teacher's supplies, I was able to get the students what they needed to put a quick costume together. By Tuesday, almost everyone had been photographed. 

We had no shortage of Frida Kahlos and Mona Lisas. Lichtenstein style portraits were also popular. But I was impressed by students who took initiative like the girl who brought a short dress and long skirt to dress as Sargent's Madam X.

These students pose as Lichtenstein, Warhol, and Munch paintings

Value Still Life Drawing with Graphite Middleground

Using gray paper as a middle ground is a great idea, if you have gray paper and white colored pencils or pastels, but you can accomplish the same goal with a white sheet of paper and a pencil and eraser. I taught my students a technique using graphite as a middle ground in this drawing assignment of a highly reflective still life.

The trick is to learn to use soft pencils (4B-8B work well) and control the amount of pressure to get various values. For the middle ground, hold the pencil almost horizontally, I even hold it like I'm picking up a pencil off the floor so that I can get the side of the pencil point. Then I draw lots of lines close together going one direction, then another, on top of that, and then maybe even a 3rd and fourth, until it looks like overlapping patches of woven fabric. Rubbing a crumpled paper towel in circular motions can blend fill in any patchy spots. 

The drawing can be done on top, with any mistakes being erased, and then grayed back into the flat starter surface. Lines are hopefully turned to edges and planes as value is onto an object or surface by shading with a pencil. Highlights and lighter areas are created by using an eraser as a drawing material. I like the white plastic erasers like Mars for this task.

value drawing by a totally blind student

Because my students are visually impaired, we stuck to two or three objects per student. This allowed them to have a personal still life that they could see or feel right in front of them. My students who were completely blind actually traced their objects with Wiki Stix. They barely stuck to the graphite long enough for me to trace their "drawings" in hote glue and then they followed instructions as to where to shade and where to erase.

At the end of the day my students were able to tell me that artists create the illusion of space through use of value, vertical placement on the page, objects overlapping, by making closer objects larger, and through the use of perspective. I think this drawing assignment helped reinforce these concepts, and gave them another technique in their "value drawing" toolbelt.

 

Clay House Assignments

I love that architecture can be an umbrella to teach 3D techniques and 2D techniques, such as drawing. For the clay house assignment, students were focused on learning to rolling slabs and using scoring and slipping techniques, but they had a lot of leeway for their own concept development: craftsmanship and originality.

Each student took their freedom seriously and came up with an idea they could get excited about. 

We talked about the concept of a house: a tree house, a light house, a gingerbread house, a fairy house, etc. Students paid attention to form an color to communicate their idea, while adding doors and windows to something like a mushroom or beehive to make it a house where a human could live. For students who were totally blind, I used painters tape to stop out all of the parts of their sculpture they didn't want to be a specific color, so they could work as independently as possible.