Jilli S. works on her portrait
To mark the U.S. election year, Rashi students participated in a school-wide art project called “Portrait of a Leader”. Director of Visual Arts Erica Smiley developed the project in tandem with the Humanities Department. This project served as part of the work of the Rashi Election Committee, which employed a number of strategies and resources to educate students about the electoral process.
Combining this learning with visual arts, students examined a number of presidential portraits, including Washington, Obama, Lincoln, and Carter. They discussed the qualities of a portrait, different styles used, and the importance of symbolism. With this knowledge, students in Kindergarten through Grade 8 each tackled their portraits according to their existing curriculum. Grade 1, for example, used their annual study of color to create monochromatic pieces, while Grade 6 flexed their one point perspective techniques to create symbolic portraits of items and words.
Portrait by Elie S., Grade 5
Grade 5, in relation to their unit on figure drawing, created their works inspired by Keith Haring, whose cartoon-style illustrations and street art showed his powerful voice in advocating for his community. In picking their leaders, there was only one rule: they had to be a real person. Beyond that, students were free to pick whoever inspired them, be it a celebrity, a politician, or a family member. “For this project, I chose my mom. I chose my leader because she has a working brain. Here’s the symbol I used, and why: a lightbulb, because it’s a symbol for ideas,” said fifth grader Elie S.
Portrait by Julia M., Grade 7
Grade 7 student Julia M. also selected her mother for her leadership portrait. The seventh graders focused mainly on developing their shading skills, following their curriculum on value and depth. “I tried to make my portrait creative,” said Julia, “I added lavender because she loves it, and dogs, and I put in a sloth because she and I joke that they’re our spirit animal.”
Some students broke the 2-Dimensional mold entirely, like the fourth grade class. With the element of energy in mind, they made their portraits into sculptures inspired by the work of James Hampton, a janitor who created his only work, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly, out of entirely recycled materials.
“I used just tinfoil, scissors, hot glue and sticks,” said Grade 4 student Jilli S. “I picked Simone Biles, and the word I used for her is ‘inspiring’ because she inspires other people. I also put her on a balance beam because it’s her favorite event.”
Bulletin boards and display cases on every floor of the building are now decorated with these stunning portraits. Like a map of Rashi’s program, they show the full progression of our students’ visual arts journey, all portrayed as their most inspiring people. What starts with an introduction to line in Kindergarten ends with fully-rendered, deeply-insightful works in the Middle School. This is just part of what makes Rashi’s arts program such a rich, growth-oriented learning experience.