An Artistic Collaboration: Public-, Private-School Students Share Self-Portraits
Natick Bulletin & Tab, 3/29/02
By Michelle Hillman, Staff Writer
Reprinted with permission from the Natick Bulletin & Tab
(March 29, 2002) – The faces were scattered and abstract, but at the same time filled with emotion and meaning – something the artists may not have intended or realized when creating the self-portraits.
The artists are second-graders from a Dorchester public school who visited Walnut Hill School –
a private arts boarding school – to view the art they had created which hangs side by side next to the artwork created by the high school students.
“I was so surprised because I didn’t realize how talented they were,” said Claire Jones, a second grade teacher at the John Marshall Elementary School in Dorchester.
Joes said her class couldn’t wait to do the project – now featured in the exhibit “Face to Face: Self-Portraits from Eighteen Miles Away” – and said the students really understood the concept.
The idea to do self-portraits was a result of a collaboration between Walnut Hill art teacher Ken Tighe and Marshall School art teacher Pat Fenlon. Tighe’s students worked on self-portraits in different styles. After viewing the high school students’ work, Fenlon and students decided to do abstract collage self-portraits.
Students drew their faces and then cut them into different shapes. Fenlon directed them to assemble the pieces, however they wanted, but told them the pieces couldn’t be reassembled to match.
I think they realize that art isn’t just coloring between the lines,” said Fenlon.
The abstract collages contained information about each student – some chose to include their favorite things, colors as well as objects that are significant to them. Captions under each of the portraits described how and why the portrait was created in the manner it was.
“This is two pictures of me,” wrote Ashaunte Marie Martinez. “My hair is in beads and braids. My mother did it. I used all kinds of cutout paper from magazines. I put some words on my collage like ‘family’ and ‘beautiful’ because I am beautiful.”
The pictures created by the second-graders showed a natural ability and affinity for letting creative juices flow, said Tighe commenting on how personal the portraits were.
“It’s all coming from the heart,” said Tighe. “The amount of pride. That rings true for every one of them.”
Last week students from the public elementary school arrived at Walnut Hill to find their portraits hanging in one of the school’s galleries. High school students led the Marshall students around the room asking them to pick some of their favorites.
The relationship between Walnut Hill and the Marshall School is two years old and is part of the Arts Partners program and is supported by the National Arts & Learning Collaborative at Walnut Hill.
Meredith Eppel, executive director of the Collaborative, said the program is currently offered after school but said Walnut Hill would like to broaden it to include professional development for teachers in the arts as well as provide a model for other schools to adopt.
“For the students in the schools that don’t have as many resources this year may open up worlds to them,” she said. “It just makes the arts much more accessible.”
The program was designed to provide Walnut Hill students an opportunity to reflect on their art’s place in a wider community outside the school, to give them a change to teach others about their art as well as provide a community service.
Marshall students benefit from having artists-in-training working with them providing opportunities in art, dance and theater they might not otherwise experience in school.
“We’re so focused on academics it’s really difficult to offer kids dance and theater,” said Marshall School Principal Teresa Harvey-Jackson.
Jackson said there is little opportunity in the public schools for students to study art or theater and, as a result, students have little or no exposure to art.
Headmaster Stephanie Perrin said she hopes to expand the program between Walnut Hill and the Marshall School so students can continue to learn from each other. Perrin wants to replicate the program with other independent schools like Walnut Hill to help schools who don’t have the resources for art and theater.
“It gives our kids a much broader concept of the arts,” said Perrin adding that the program also helps to enlarge the Marshall students vision of what is possible.
