Portraits with interwoven patterns inspired by Kehinde Wiley
Shantavia Belle II 2012 by Kehinde Wiley Click photo to go to the artist's website.
Self portraits are always a popular project at all grade levels, but I wanted to connect them to a contemporary artist this year instead of Renaissance artists as I usually do. For this unit we watched videos about Kehinde's work, like THIS one, and others.
I also wanted to offer a simple version of this exploration for my introductory students and a more complex exploration for my advanced students. All spent a day taking "selfies" in a photo booth I set up in my classroom. (Video below)
I also wanted to offer a simple version of this exploration for my introductory students and a more complex exploration for my advanced students. All spent a day taking "selfies" in a photo booth I set up in my classroom. (Video below)
My advanced students selected pattern paper backgrounds, and used a razor blade to release some of the patterns to overlap the portrait as Kehinde does. We cut the printed portraits and traced their outline onto the patterned paper so that cuts could be more exact. Students then created a grid on plastic over these images to work with.
The advanced students then had 2 options. #1 was to just transfer the image to a larger gridded paper. If this was their first gridding experience, I suggested they do that.
#2 Those who had done grids before were given a challenge... to work on 4 x 4 inch squares of various materials and media to create a mural-size portrait. I created some video tutorials (Linked at the end of this post) to help them along and I created the sample below so they could see the kinds of possibilities that might be available to them.
#2 Those who had done grids before were given a challenge... to work on 4 x 4 inch squares of various materials and media to create a mural-size portrait. I created some video tutorials (Linked at the end of this post) to help them along and I created the sample below so they could see the kinds of possibilities that might be available to them.
Below are some detail shots of the squares. The back of the mural is held together with 4 large sheets of drawing paper (18 x 24 in.) and Elmer's glue.
For my introductory students, we essentially created a traditional grid portrait, but in the squares of the final grid we also created stencils to be repeated in the background. I encouraged students to pick a cultural symbol or something they felt expressed their personality. As we reviewed Mr. Wiley's work, students noted that sometimes the background patterns overlapped the figure. This created a sense of depth and contrast. Students were to make at least 3 pieces of their pattern pieces overlap the figure. In my sample, I used a clover to connect with my Irish heritage. I encouraged students to rotate their stenciled design to keep the pattern more visually dynamic. We colored the face in black and white to learn about tones/shading, and used color in the patterns and background for contrast.
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