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...
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...
National Gallery of Canada
Self-Portrait, Mirrors and Metamorphosis!
Using M.C. Escher's Hand with Reflecting Sphere as inspiration, learners create their own set of self-portraits using various reflective surfaces. The lesson begins with a discussion about portraiture and ends with a presentation of work...
Curated OER
Chatty Cherry Stories
Young artists will respond to reading children's literature, by engaging in original storytelling and representing their own images through the visual arts. Then they orally describe details of people, places, and things in their stories...
Curated OER
Portraits as Keys to History
Young scholars 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
My Book and Me
Students compare and contrast a variety of books about children and then choose their favorite to incorporate into a life-size self-portrait. They examine self-portraits done by famous artists like Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo daVinci,...
Curated OER
Eyes That Talk
Students explore their personal strengths and characteristics and write a short description of themselves. Afterward, they create a dramatic self-portrait with an expression that identifies who they are. Students fill the areas around...
Curated OER
self-Portrait
Students create self-portraits. They examine thier faces and create a self-portrait using pencils and colored markers. Students examine various examples of self-portraits painted by famous artists. They use a mirror to examine what they...
Curated OER
Self-Portrait With Literal Reference
Students create self-portraits using ideas from a particular theme and piece of literature in this high school Art lesson. Emphasis is placed on combining visual and literal material in a cohesive manner.
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
Digital Image Linoleum Printing
Students discuss different types of portrait photography and the various reasons for having a portrait. They change an image into a high contrast image using Adobe Photo Deluxe then transfer their image onto a linoleum block to create a...
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
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
Technology as a Design Tool for self-portraits
Students create self-portraits using the technology of digital cameras mixed with other media. Adobe Photoshop is a requirement for this specific three week project. State standards for the arts are addressed.
Curated OER
Creating Realistic Faces
Students explain that, in order to create realistic faces, artists study live models, use mathematics to explain correct proportion, and practice by making sketches. They create a self-portrait using these principles.
Curated OER
Ceramic Relief Portrait
Eighth graders use draped slab and slab method to create a relief sculpture, adding coil and slab decoration. They study facial features and form them in clay. They study symbolism in Renaissance relief terra cottas.
Curated OER
Human Abstraction
Students 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
Colors of My Skin
Students cooperate in small groups to prepare paint colors that match their own skin colors. They share a variety of paint colors which they mix individually to create a shade that matches their own skin tone. They discuss the colors...
Curated OER
What is Important to You?
Students examine the life of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist known for her self-portraits. After discussing her works and life as an artist, students use mirrors to examine their faces and begin drawing their own self-portraits.
Curated OER
Self-portrait Projects
Teacher discusses drawing of facial features with middle schoolers. They then research facial features of famous artists and children's illustrators on the Internet. Students then will create a self-portrait using paper and pencil.
Curated OER
Retablo-Style Self-Portraits
Students design tinfoil self-portraits based on the work of Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican painter. They study the style of this Mexican artist before making their own portraits.
Curated OER
Self-portrait Poem
Students practice naming various features or parts of their bodies using similes and vivid adjectives. The format is extended to poetic expressions as they develop a self-portrait and extend the creative experience through art.
Curated OER
When I Grow Up - All By Myself
Students listen to the book, All By Myself, then write sentences describing themselves now and when they are grown up. They create self-portraits of their current selves and what they be like in the future.
Curated OER
Descriptive Prompt
Students create a detailed self portrait, and then write about their appearance.