High School Studio Lesson
SC A
NNER
AS FINE ART
Kris Fontes
Not every art department is
fortunate enough to have
access to digital cameras
and image-editing software, but if you have a scanner, a
computer, and
a printer, your
students can create some incredibly imaginative
and surreal
work.
Many of us
can remember when it was amusing
to put your hand, face, or another
body part on a copier. This lesson
uses the same idea, but while a
traditional copy machine captures
an image in black and white, the
scanner can capture an image in
eerie color and save it to a computer
in a digital for-
mat, ready to be
manipulated in a
photo-editing pro-
gram.
If you have a scanner, a
computer, and a printer
your students can create
some incredibly imaginative
and surreal work.
Introduction
My graphic design
class meets in a computer lab and
all of their projects are created on
the computer. After a discussion on
self-portraits, which included
Self-Portrait with Hand on the Forehead
by Käthe Kollwitz, Self-Portrait with
Pipe (Smoker) by Max Pechstein,
and Study for Self-Portrait by Chuck
Close, students were ready to begin
creating their own images.
A brief demo was given on the
use of the scanner and then students, working with a partner, began
to scan their faces. Each student
placed their face close to the glass
on the scanner bed while their partner covered their head with a dark
cloth to block out any ambient light.
Students were encouraged to alter
Left: Alyse (after
manipulation).
Below: Alyse
(original scan).
Top and bottom
right: Sashia (after
manipulation).
Far right: Sashia
(scan).
