SchoolArts - March 2011

Earlier this school year, I noticed that, when painting self-portraits, my students truggled with size relationships between the head, neck, and shoulders. In order to address this without having to deal with facial proportions, I came up with another plan.

Years ago, as a middle school art teacher, I had my students sit behind one another and draw each other from the back. The original idea came from my dear friend and former colleague, Kirsten Niederhaus. I altered the lesson for my second graders, and it was great fun!

Marianne Bickett

Drawing the Back of the Head I demonstrated how to best use the space by starting at the top of the paper, making the portrait the focus and allowing the head, neck, and shoulders to take up most of the space. We practiced making oval shapes and where to start the neck. Students drew the portraits again on watercolor paper, making any corrections needed. I was amazed how well most of them did on the first try!

So many stories, so many
possibilities . . . all from
seeing ourselves from
another view!

A Focus on Mary Cassatt

Students began this project by learning about Mary Cassatt. We paid particular attention to the way she painted many different angles of faces: front views, views from underneath, side views, three-quarter views, and back views.

We learned how Mary Cassatt was influenced by Japanese art and we noticed how some of her paintings had wallpaper or patterns on the wall behind the subject. We noticed how the overlapping of the shapes of the people against the background patterns gave depth to her paintings. Students next took turns drawing a partner from the back on a practice piece of newsprint paper.

Painting the Drawings The following week, we painted our drawings with watercolor, remembering color relationships, dry-brush versus wet-brush techniques, and testing and mixing colors in the white area that would be cut out later. During the next class, each student was able to choose from a variety of background pattern paper I had ordered from a catalog. I loved how unique each portrait was, all the way down to the patterned paper!

bottom with the name of the subject
and the artist. On the back, the same
information was written, along with
several interview questions each
student asked
the other: What
is your favorite
color? What is
your favorite
hobby? What do
you like to eat?

Students then evaluated their own work with a rubric.

As we hung the artwork around the room, it was so much fun to recognize everyone! Students really enjoyed seeing their artworks up in our “gallery” and being able to see themselves . . . from the back! They wondered, What are they looking at? What are they thinking? Some of the same questions arose as we looked at our work that we encountered while looking at Mary Cassatt’s work. So many stories, so many possibilities . . . all from seeing ourselves from another view!

Marianne Bickett is the art and literacy teacher at Forest Hill Elementary School in San Jose, California.

Adding a Background Students first glued the chosen pattern paper onto a black construction paper backing and then cut it out. After the portrait was glued onto the pattern paper, the painting was labeled with a small strip of paper on the front