Maggie-
I'm the opinion (I teach 6th, 7th and 8th grades) that if you start
providing props for them now, they'll never learn to see.
It is the transition from concrete to abstract that's got them frozen. My
6th graders like the analytical approach to building shapes that are
dimensional. If I had them longer than 4 1/2 weeks, I would be really
interested in having them do a clay bust first, and then a drawn portrait.
For the basic oval/egg shape: have them make a dotted outline of an egg
shape. If they "mess up," they can always correct without so much
invested. Ask them if they know how to make a cursive lower case "e."
Tell them you're turning that "e" sideways, and show them how to make
concentric circles around the oval shape. These concentric circles will
help them keep the idea of depth.
I love to point out the different connection points between the facial
features--the tops of the ears lining up to the eyebrows, etc. Then, I'd
show the proportions. One caveat--since their skulls haven't yet adopted
the adult proportions, they may truly see something different about their
faces.
Dramatic lighting? Maybe you could find a bust of Lincoln or Washington
(or some of the Texas Democrats?) they could use as a confidence builder.
I think dramatic lighting helps in portraiture.
And I guess that leaves me with one caveat. My 8th graders have typically
been too darn self-conscious to really get into portraiture, so I've left
it alone. My one exception was last year, when we did the b&w photos,
gridded them and did Fauve oil-pastels on black construction paper. They
looked great, but I'll always feel reservations about gridding photographs.
I have a bunch of stuff I down-loaded from Getty if you want me to snail
mail it to you. Have they had any art in the elementary school levels?
Are you teaching at a private school now?
Maggie Tucker
