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Re: parents favorites: 5 years of self portraits

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From: Geoffrey McClain (skygeoff_at_TeacherArtExchange)
Date: Wed Oct 01 2003 - 17:28:40 PDT

parents favorite: profile silhouetteEvery year I have all my students (grades 1 -5) draw their self portrait using colored pencils, chalk pastels and markers. They are very detailed. They spend a lot of time trying to achieve the exact color blend for their hair, eyes, lips, skin and shirt. I save them for five years. They get to see their old ones every year but then they have to give them back to me. In fifth grade they glue all five to a 24" x 36" piece of colored paper. They decorate around the borders with oil pastels and sharpies. They write their names either in a fancy font on the computer and glue them on, or they can write their names in a fancy way. The parents have told me that they love seeing the five years of self portraits for the first time. They keep them forever.
Sky in NJ
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: mak MaryAnn Kohl
  To: ArtsEdNet Talk
  Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 12:55 PM
  Subject: parents favorite: profile silhouette

    This is a bit of an old idea for our group, but I am sharing it because it makes a popular project or gift (holiday time?) or very large holiday card, kind of like handprints ... because parents love these to save. Students can trace each other's silhouettes, and then cut them out, glue them on larger paper after. If you glue it inside a large folded piece of paper, then it's like a large card.

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    Profile Silhouette
      Young artists cut out a silhouette of a friend's profile using a common desk lamp, black paper, chalk and sharp scissors.

    FRANCE
    Did you know?
    Although silhouette art was part of Roman
    culture, the French are credited with the
    side view or profile view of a person's head
    and shoulder. The silhouette is directly cut from a piece of paper and presented as a simple form of a portrait.

    Materials
                     chair
                     adjustable desk lamp
                     table
                     tape
                     black paper
                     white chalk
                     good, sharp scissors
                     other paper and white glue

    Process
    1. Arrange a chair about a foot from the wall.
    2. Arrange the lamp about a foot from the chair and shining towards the wall.
    Test the lamp to see if it shines on the wall with a good shadow.
    3. Tape the black paper to the wall where the light is shining.
    4. Ask a friend to sit on the chair with one ear towards the wall and
    the other towards the light. Test the silhouette to find if the
    light shines to make a sharp outline of the person's profile. If it
    does not make a clear profile, rearrange the chair and the light.
    5. The person must remain very still while the profile is traced.
    Trace the profile with white chalk.
    6. After the profile is completed, cut out the profile on the chalk
    line.
    7. Glue the profile to another sheet of paper of contrasting color
    such as white for the finished profile silhouette.

  printed with permission from the book, Global Art (Gryphon House), by Kohl and Potter http://brightring.com/profile.html
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