National Gallery of Canada
A Cultural Portrait
Explore heritage and identity through an examination of art and a related project. The featured art, related to the African diaspora, includes several types of art created by different artists. Pupils consider their own backgrounds and...
Curated OER
Henna Hand Designs Art Lesson: Make a Unique Self-Portrait
Explore the art and cultural significance of henna hand designs. You engage the class by providing background information that describes who, what, where, when, and why henna designs are used. Then, the class uses the included templates...
Curated OER
Self-Portrait With Literal Reference
Learners create self-portraits using ideas from a particular theme and piece of literature in this high school Art instructional activity. Emphasis is placed on combining visual and literal material in a cohesive manner.
Curated OER
Portraits as Keys to History
Students create self-portraits using images and words. They discuss portraits from the Memorial Art Gallery, create a self-portrait collage usng images and words from magazines, and complete a worksheet.
Curated OER
Tribal (or Ethnic) Self Portrait
Young scholars create self-portraits in which they represent themselves as a member of a tribe.
Curated OER
Self-Portrait Unit - Lesson #1
Fourth graders create self-portraits using artistic elements found in Hispanic culture and, specifically, the art of Frida Kahlo. The lesson can be adapted for any culture/country and requires an outside person with cultural knowledge.
Curated OER
Metaphoric Self Portrait
Students create 3D self-portraits using various sculpture materials that convey different meanings and emotions.
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Expressive Self Portrait - Mixed Media
Students create self-portraits using prior artistic knowledge and personal experiences. Emphasis is placed on the works of Albrecht Durer, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Romare Bearden, and Chuck Close for inspiration.
Curated OER
Expressive Self Portrait Montage
Young scholars create self portraits similar to the Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe portraits using digital images.
National Gallery of Canada
Who Are You?
What can a self-portrait reveal about an artist? Discuss various self-portraits before tasking your pupils with creating their own. Learners research artists, develop an idea of their own individuality, and create photo collages with...
Curated OER
Egyptian Mummy Cases
Here is an activity I'd like to do with my class! They researching the ins and outs of Egyptian culture, hieroglyphs, symbolism, and art, then use what they know to create realistic or stylized Mummy cases. These cases need to include...
Curated OER
Lesson: Emory Douglas: Art and Activism
Visual literacy can be experienced in many different ways. Learners discuss the times, graphic art, and cultural significance of activism in art as they explore artist and Black Panther, Emory Douglas. This is a discussion-based activity...
Curated OER
"Where's Waldo" About Me Drawing - Self "Portrait"
Students identify the cultural clues found within art forms by producing a work of art based on their personal experiences and create a work of art about themself. They recognize how technical elements affect art and how to implement...
Curated OER
You Are What You Eat!
Students create believable self-portraits incorporating selected food items as details, forms, and texturesThe compositional focus is a head-and-shoulders portrait appropriate to the food theme resulting in a humorous illustration....
Curated OER
Self Portraits
Third graders complete a unit on the writing process that focusses on the self-portraits of Rembrandt and Norman Rockwell. They create their own self-portraits and write autobiographical sketches. They also research the lives of the...
Planet e-Book
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
True passion can drive you mad. Stephen Dedalus, the main character in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man straddles many lines, including those between sanity and insanity, piety and sin, and individuality...
Curated OER
Human Abstraction
Learners explore and compare abstraction of human forms in various ancient cultures and by creating self-portraits using geometric shapes. They identify which geometric shapes form the following features: face, nose, arms, torso, legs,...
Curated OER
Creating a digital Self-Portrait
Sixth graders use a digital camera and take photographs of each other wearing a "costume" of their choice in front of a blue screen. They work cooperatively to complete the photographs by placing it into a background and setting...
National Museum of the American Indian
Fritz Scholder: A Study Guide
In this engaging activity involving close analysis of abstract expressionist art, your class members will not only discover more about artist Friz Scholder's Native American art, but they will also have the opportunity to consider...
Curated OER
Self-portraits: Integrating Arts And the Language Arts
Students look into a mirror and draw their own self-portraits. Then they write a descriptive essay, describing the portrait and the features of their face.
Curated OER
Life Sized Self Portrait
Students create a self-portrait that is compiled by using individual student drawings. The drawings emphasize line, shape, color and possibly texture depending upon the student's selection of materials.
Sargent Art
Facial Proportion Challenge: Freaky Faces
Young artists have fun making freaky faces when they accept the challenge of making proportional portraits. They must find pictures in magazines, cut out two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, and then rescale these images into a portrait.
National Gallery of Canada
Me or You in the 30's?
Take on portrait painting and tertiary colors with a plan focused on recreating a photograph. After viewing several pieces of artwork, class members follow the instructions included here to create portraits or self-portraits in a...
Curated OER
Exploring Our Connections To Jewish Life
Students participate in a lesson about the Jewish culture and explores the connections of family or congregational education. They self-reflect about the times when they feel connected to the religion of Judaism. Students also create art...