Self Portraits

Our mirror fun continues with self portraits.  When I taught high school art, my students dreaded self portraits, I think in part because they were afraid their pictures would not resemble themselves, but also because a lot of the teenage students disliked sitting in front of a mirror having to look at themselves.  Self acceptance is hard for teenagers, a lot of adults as well, but that is one of the reasons I love watching these preschoolers look at themselves in the mirror.  They do not have self consciousness in front of the mirror, actually they are fascinated with their image.  I hope that if this positive self image is promoted now, perhaps it will stay with them in years to come.  In the meantime, I love watching their play and art work in front of the mirror, not to mention their silliness.

Before any drawing could take place, we had to have some funny face time.  This was followed by a very brief talk about the shape of the face, our eyes, noses, and mouths.  As well as some questions about what are some other features we see on the face and head, for some reason they almost always forget to mention ears and hair.

Then the children got to work.  For many of these little ones, drawing faces and bodies are a new thing.  I always think of Carl Jung and his child development stages in which he discusses a child starting to become aware of their place in the world around 3 and 4 and how at this point they start their early representations of people.  So here they are representing themselves through these drawings, and for some their families as well.

Portrait by J.P.

Another Portrait by J.P.

Portrait by E.P.B.

Portrait by J.D.

Portrait by E.P.H.

Portrait by E.M.

Portrait by A.R.

Portrait by M.N.

Portrait by J.D.

Portrait by K.S.



Portrait by H.S.

Portrait by S.G.

Portrait by T.M.

I just love the personality all these pictures have.  I photocopied them and plan on having the kid's reexamine them throughout the week, as well as see if they want to add to the copies with a couple different mediums, I am curious where this project may go.