Self Portrait Collaborative Project
Content/Intent Statement
This self-portrait was meant to be a record of how I look on the outside and a record of who I am on the inside. What I am, what we all are, is a combination of all life experiences. I have lived over half a century and have grown and changed over those many years. How could the artist in me, reveal the many decades of these years of life in a self-portrait?
I decided to take a picture of my middle-aged face and include my reading glasses, changing hair color, and life-wrinkles, not my glamour shot! That was the outside likeness I wanted to present. But the look of me on the outside is not all I am, on the inside. I asked myself, “How could I show my “inside” in this self-portrait?”
As an art teacher, I always require my students to write about their artwork. What better way to reveal myself to you than to add a written reflection? Over the last 20 years I’ve kept a journal. I’ve documented of my life in my journal that reveals an ordinary journey, yet one that is specific to myself. I decided to reveal my “inside” by adding journal entries to my self-portrait. I picked out passages that juxtaposed the common with the eventful, the reflective with the superficial. These passages of lines and time surround my likeness in the center. I believe this self-portrait tells a realistic story of the person I am.
