Making Faces

 

Students in Morgan’s Grade 8 Art class focused on what they observed rather than preconceived ideas of how an object or subject should look. They studied the work of Bisa Butler, an award winning African American textile artist. She is known for her vibrant, stunning, larger than life sized quilted portraits that tell a story rooted in the African American experience. Each student then received a segment of Butler’s extraordinary quilt, Anaya with Oranges, and reproduced each section using acrylic paint. Through this project, students further developed skills in rendering value, line, texture, and color using acrylic paint and used their observational skills to reproduce shapes of values, lines, and textures and their relationship to one another (proportion). Each segment is a successful composition within itself. This collaborative painting illustrates the young artists’ individual and collective way of seeing. 

Continuing their exploration of the the artist, students experimented and manipulated acrylic materials and methods to create a multitude of abstract paintings. Following an exercise in which students practiced drawing facial features through observation, they then drew observational self-portraits in pencil and used them as a means to compose collaged self-portraits. Through this project, students explored mixed media, made compositional choices, and used their own art to inform new interpretations.

These works are currently on view on the fourth floor outside of Studios 1 and 2.