Symbolic Self-Portraits
Sixth grade students viewed the artwork of Chuck Close, a contemporary artist who creates portraits by dividing the painting surface into a grid and paints a different design into each square. When viewed at a distance, the designs in the grid form one entire image much like the pixels in a digital photograph. This process was the inspiration for this project.
Students used a photograph to create a self-portrait that they drew a grid on top of. The squares of the grid were filled with symbols that tell something about the students' personality such as interests and hobbies. Some of the squares were also filled with designs using shape and color.
Four different color combinations were used for the squares of the grid. A two color combination was used for the skin, hair, clothing and background.
