"Here I Am!" EES

I love self-portraits. 

It never, ever gets old to see how kids create a likeness of themselves. And so, I present the third graders' painted paper collage self portraits!

I mean, wowzers, right?  

Students began by mixing the colors that they needed to make tones for their hair, skin, eyes, and clothes, and painting those colors on huge sheets of paper which they cut up to make the pieces you see glued here.  These papers were also available for sharing, so we built up a huge stock of community papers that kids could use for little details. 

One of the goals of the project was proportion, and fortunately, prior to my arrival, the students here had the idea of "eyes in the middle" pretty well drilled into their brains.  We added more info about the other features, and students pretty well nailed it.

Because, remember, these are eight and nine-year-olds. And their major effort shows in the fantastic results.

Those little blue earrings against the orange paper! It's all in the details.

Like those glasses, and slightly open mouth.  I am lucky to teach such a bunch of artists!

At this last moment, this artist delighted me with the surprise addition of hands holding lizards, and they really make the whole thing even cooler, and tell me more about the person, in the way that famous artists like Frida Kahlo have done forever with the objects and animals they love.

Self Portrait with Monkeys by Frida Kahlo, 1943

Now, I would love to tell you that these were easy and fast, and that you could start this lesson today and have them in your school hallways in a week or two, but that would be a lie. They took nearly forever.

But they are totally worth the time! The kids are super proud, so I would do them again for sure!