Self-Portraits: Exploring Identity Through Art

How do children perceive themselves?

One of the ways we can find out is through their self-portraits. Depicting oneself in art starts in preschool, and the first portrayal of self often looks like a jellyfish, a circle with two floating lines emerging from the bottom. We can start even with those primitive drawings to ask “Is that you?” “What are you doing?” We don’t want to point out what’s missing—“Where are your arms?”—but to cheer as new body parts emerge with developmental maturity. It’s interesting that these shapes are common to every culture. Getting children to talk about their ideas of self is the beginning of the exciting process of creating self-identity and awareness of others.

If you peek into the elementary art center (Room 16), you’ll notice that the room abounds with self-portraits, including a crowd of three-dimensional heads. One reason for our school-wide learning objective of children to learning to express themselves through the arts is that children need flexible, creative ways to explore their evolving sense of self. Without art, they would be left with their reflection in the mirror and the perceptions of how they think others see and judge them.

Our wonderful elementary art teacher, Lara Cannon, continuously finds fascinating and meaningful ways to engage children in this self-identity process. With first-graders, Lara blindfolded a teddy bear and asked the children to draw themselves so the bear could see what they looked like when the blindfold was removed. That was part of their ongoing love fest with the bear. Lara copied their portraits on a roll of paper in black ink, then asked them to color in their illustrations to create a large mural, which allowed the children to see themselves in relation to others.

Lara asked the second graders to explore their self-portrayal though painted paper collage, an exercise that included mixing their own hair and skin colors. She encouraged the students to include their dreams for the future in the collages.

Preschool has stimulating self-portrait activities too. One of the most popular occurs annually with the reading of The Color of Us and students mixing their unique skin colors. These are often full-body portraits, starting with the teacher tracing around the student’s body, then having them fill in their hair, facial features, and clothes. Like the display of second grade collages in Room 16, these large preschool representations of all the students creates a powerful picture of diversity.

Creating self-portraits can be a fun and satisfying family activity. Instead of trying for realism, family members can create fantasy portrayals of themselves, reflecting things they would like to do or qualities they want to develop in the future. Whatever the setting, we want to applaud children’s bravery in creating their identity through art, no matter what their level of skill.

Explorations Class: Cooking in Español

Kindergarten teacher Chloe Gilmore teaches an introductory Spanish class for kindergartners and first graders in our Explorations after-school program. The current session, which began last week, is all about food. Each week her Cooking in Español! classes enjoy a different dish from a Spanish-speaking country. This week they’re having quesadillas. (Last week they had guacamole.)

“The class focuses on using words and numbers in Spanish to make recipes from around the world,” says Chloe. “The children learn new songs, build their vocabulary, and, at the end of the course, take home a Spanish recipe book. “Most of the instruction is Spanish, with gestures to help the children understand. I ask them to repeat important words and phrases as we cook.”

Each class meeting starts with a song about cooking. This week they sang “Soy una Taza” (“I Am a Cup”), which teaches kitchen-related terms like tenedor (fork), cuchillo (knife), and plato hondo (bowl). (Next week they’ll sing “Soy Una Pizza.”)

The word quesadilla, Chloe notes, is derived from the Spanish word queso, meaning cheese. Literally translated, quesadilla means “little cheesy thing.”

To make her students’ “little cheesy things,” Chloe heats corn (maize) or flour (harina) tortillas on a small estufa (stove), fills them with regular or vegan cheese, then adds tomates (tomatoes), aguacate (avocado), cilantro, and crema (cream), according to the children’s preferences.

Chloe teaches two Cooking in Español! classes, one on Tuesdays, one on Thursdays, each with 12 students. The classes meet once a week for 45 minutes.

Though her classes are introductory classes, each new series has a different focus, so they’re appropriate both for children who have taken one before and those who haven’t.

Chloe, a Meher School graduate, has been studying Spanish since she was in middle school. This is her fifth cycle of Explorations Spanish classes.

One Step at a Time

I never learned to blow bubble gum and pop it. In order to set this up as a short-term goal for me (it’s never too late), my granddaughter once kindly broke bubble blowing into steps: 1) Chew gum until soft. 2) Flatten on roof of mouth. 3) Stretch and flatten behind front teeth. 4) Blow between teeth. 5) Let pop.

Setting small goals and making steps toward accomplishing them boosts our self-esteem at any age. This is especially true when we monitor our progress. I can write down the progress I make toward bubble blowing to encourage myself.

Children today have so many pressures to perform academically and even athletically, why not encourage them to achieve little goals that foster a sense of self-satisfaction and offer tangible rewards? Even small goals can provide themes that bring more vibrancy to everyday routines. If someone in the family sets a goal for holding his breath under water for a minute or knitting the world’s longest scarf, the rest of the family can cheer them on.

Try setting simple goals for the whole family. Learn a song by practicing one line a night, or read a long book together by tackling a chapter a week. Plan a family five-mile walk, but start by ambling several blocks and work up to your final goal. Put together a huge puzzle. Paint a mural.

Think of things you still want to learn, and do them with your child: French braiding, baton twirling, tap dancing, pogo-stick hopping. Creating small goals not only spurs us on to accomplishment, whether we’re two or 42, it helps us understand how broad and exciting life’s learning can be at any age.