EXPRESS YOURSELVES

SELF-PORTRAIT COLLAGES

BEGINNING 2-D ART

paper collage, & bas relief embellishments

It's been a while

 since I showcased my Beginning Drawing, Painting and Design students.

Well,

 here they are,

 in all their glory,

creating these Self Portrait Collages for their 1st Quarter Final.

I want to start off by featuring junior Eileen Lee.

Eileen wants to be an art major,

 and as you can see,

 she already has a strong understanding of design and color.

 Stardust Map has a really uplifting feel to it.

The kids had to jump thru so many hoops on this project

to demonstrate their knowledge of design that we've been studying all quarter

from the book Art Talk.

One of many requirements was to bring in visual texture

 into their backgrounds,

 and Eileen has delivered.

In Practice Makes Perfect ,

Mikaela Guerrero has chosen to work in a monochromatic red color scheme.

 Red is often used in an artwork to express anger

which again is something we studied in their Color Theory Unit.

And since these are self-portraits,

it makes me wonder if she consciously or unconsciously used red

 to express how much she hates all the hours of practice she has to put in?

She is also using several diagonals which create movement (a principle of design),

helping me to "hear" the music..

I've really been impressed with junior Jazzerie Lo this year.

As you can see she has a fabulous sense of design.

There isn't a thing I would change up in this piece.

She is displaying great creativity and critical thinking 

by using so many interesting media within this small little work.

Jazzerie always gives me everything she has.

She is an attentive listener and works hard to apply all that she has learned

which makes her work stand out.

Plus I think she has come to me with a lot of natural ability as well.

Clever and well thought out are the words I'd use to describe junior Kevin Mao's piece.

His self-portrait titled Broken Confidence is INTERACTIVE,

a first in this assignment..

Check out below how it opens up with a completely different message.

WOW!!!

A very powerful work.

I got to work with and know senior Nick Aoki last year in Beginning 3-D art.

And one of the things I asked the kids to do 

was convey something about themselves in these little self-portraits.

Well Nick really nailed himself in Livin Da Life.

I work at a highly competitive high school 

and am used to the kids being stressed out all the time.

Nick is like a breath of fresh air,

nothing seems to bother him,

 He is so relaxed and chill.

And because he got to take that 3-D class,

you can see how beautifully crafted this piece is. 

Also love how he placed his tree on the diagonal instead of vertically.

In Id,

junior Malalya Sithichai has given us a lot to think about.

Sometimes these self-portraits came be dark and a bit scary.

I love that Malaya as well as Kevin and  Jazzerie above

 were brave enough to be truthful in expressing themselves thru their art.

And that they have this healthy outlet to do it in.

Again,

very clever thinking to use toothpicks to create her monster.

Junior Eunice Shim delights the eye as well as the soul with You Carry Me.

And I adore the little fairy she has created.

Really lovely piece!

And in this last one by junior Vicky Hur,

Go With The Flow,

I'm really enjoying all the neutrals she brought into her color scheme.

Neutrals can be thrown into any color scheme.

Neutrals are browns, blacks, greys, whites, & tans.

You can clearly see in Vicky's piece 

so many of the requirements I asked the kids to incorporate.

Going outside the box into the margin in at least 3 areas,

the visual texture,

in Vicky's case she has used both real texture & simulated texture.

Bringing in text was also a requirement

along with building in bas-relief at least one focal point.

This group of beginners we saw here,

 along with the rest of the class,

 has been a joy to work with

 and I look forward to bringing more of their work to the blog.