Express Yourself!

SELF PORTRAIT COLLAGES

BEGINNING 2-D ART

paper collage & misc. embellishments

I use this assignment for the 1st Quarter Final so that my students can put together all the 

Elements and Principles of Art within a Self Portrait Subject Matter.

They have so many hoops (requirements) to jump thru as they build these pieces,

so that a lot of critical thinking is involved.

The finished pieces are truly remarkable as you will see for a beginning art student.

When Oceans Rise by junior Hapshiba Kwon, 

is a great example of how wonderful these pieces turn out.

Check out the person she created and baked from polymer clay,

the build up of tissue layers, 

the strategically places beads.

And can you find the bit of text she was required to insert?

And how it all follows together for a unified piece?

We will see a lot from Hapshiba this year.

She is a natural who loves to create. 

Junior Katherine Ku has made this powerful piece and statement with

  Love in the Middle of a Firefight.

She has chosen a monochromatic color scheme which really makes the work pop.

Again,

 check out the layers of paper collage which gives the piece a bas-relief effect 

(another requirement)

One of my personal favorites,

Stitched Back Up,

was done by senior Melissa Lanto.

She has included all my favorite fibery things.

But Melissa, 

I believe,

 is using them as a metaphor for a deeper more personal message.

Junior Kyla Balquin spent countless hours building Under the Surface.

She totally gets across her message that she's drowning under all her responsibilities,

but that there is hope.

I feel this is a great assignment for the kids to express themselves.

Scatterbrained by junior Hazel Cruz is so visually pleasing to me.

Love the use of the two color schemes side by side 

(warm and neutral),

and that she felt comfortable enough to draw in her margins with pen & ink,

which adds a bit of quirkiness.

Here we have 8th grader Olivia Krueger with The Breaking of  Facade.

For one so young she is sending out a strong visual message 

through a gorgeous color scheme,

 text and embellishments.

Another 8th grader in the class,

Sara Ryave,

in Descent into Insanity,

is really showing us the inner struggles of our youth today.

Again,

a powerful way for these sweet young ones to express themselves.

The message in Sideshow Attraction by Lily To really broke my heart.

All I can say is "Wow!"

And that she has created a lovely,

yet sad and painful,

  glimpse in to her world.

Senior Cyrus Salvani in Lost in Translation,

 has created so many beautiful layers for us to enjoy through his piece.

Love his neutral color scheme,

the masks that float around the focal point,

and then how he rubbed charcoal around his margin for a striking effect.

Talk about a work that pops and grabs you!

In Risking It All by 8th grader Rochelle Serrano,

we feel her descent into the abyss,

but then look at how she's fabricated the beautiful lifeline thru feathers and twig.

These kids are really brilliant at such a young with their brutal honesty.

One of my new favorites 

(yes I know, no favorites)

 junior Bernice Lim,

gives us a fun lighthearted and yet

 dark and charred glimpse into her inner struggle in 

Look Into Who I Am.

I adore that she built her distinctive red eyeglasses

 and incorporated them into her work.

So the second you view this piece you know it belongs to Bernice.

And lastly we have senior Karisma Dev.

I asked the students to give me bas-relief.

Well Karisma delivered in Before All Else.

Love how she has designed a book-like structure with pages.

And on the last page a pix of she and her little sis.

What a beautiful Mother's Day gift this will make framed out in a shadow box.

Hint...hint  :)