Year 10 have been continuing to look at the role of self-portraits as part of their GCSE art preparation. The overall theme is one of self-identity. We have been looking at many artists who create self-portraits, and then seeing what evidence we can find about their own personalities through their work.
The pupils have produced their own self-portraits. We asked each class member to bring in from home some artefacts that represent who they are as young people. The portraits were painted, and then we added in some of these ideas of self-identity to the work.
Year 10 have started the new spring term at Lansdowne by looking at another artist who relies heavily on the idea of portraits. We watched a short presentation on the work of the American artist Chuck Close.
The students learnt how Chuck is described as a photo-realist. We held a class discussion to define what this might mean. We looked at some of his work and decided that the detailed images might look like photographs, but they are actually created using paint or ink.
Our research work on Chuck Close then showed how his work is produced on a large canvas style. Experimentation with monochrome or fingerprint layering could be seen. This is similar to our own GCSE artwork that encourages the students to experiment and manipulate images. We also observed the different tones that are used to help create some stunning portraits.
Year 10 have now started work on creating a PowerPoint presentation on Chuck Close. This will form the front cover of their GCSE art folder. It needs to give a good impression to help the examiners understand more about our abilities.
Our photo-realism work in year 10 will continue with the pupils producing their own large scale grand portrait using some of the techniques pioneered by Chuck Close. You can listen to some of the early thoughts from one of the students in the recording below.