UPWARD BOUND STUDENT WORK

Upward Bound is an after school program that serves high school students from low-income families by providing them with opportunities to succeed in their precollege performance and ultimately in their higher education pursuits. For the last three years I have been teaching a Visual Arts class for the Upward Bound program, for which I have created my own curriculum, lesson plans, and learned how to nurture and foster a student’s creative ability. These mixed media self portraits were created by my most recent students in the summer of 2018. The first section of the course was focused on exploring color theory. The students also examined the range of emotions that correlate with certain colors. They were then asked to choose a color scheme based off of which they felt most accurately expressed how they would like to represent themselves. The second part of the course was focused in photography. The students were asked to photograph objects or scenery within their color schemes, and they were encouraged to think of what places, scenes, or characters they would like to capture as these images would be used to collage into their portraits. In each lesson examples were given of either experimental photographers who used mixed media in their work or who collaged with photographs like U.K. based photographer Melinda Gibson, or the incredible Renee Cox. While also drawing inspiration from cubist classics like Pablo Picasso, the students were introduced to various different styles and genres of work. For the next part of the assignment they created blind contour self portraits, and then used their color specific photographs to collage into their drawings. In conclusion the students secured their work onto a canvas, and they were required to fill the entirety of their space. Through out the process it was important each student could make a space for themselves in which they could create meaningful work that represented their character. Working with the Upward Bound students through out the years has been the most inspirational time of my life. Watching as each student grew creatively, even the ones who thought they couldn’t was an incredible experience to watch and reaffirmed that art students at all levels should be given the chance to push beyond technique and use art as a means of expressing themselves. I am now applying to seek my Master’s of Art Education as I hope to pursue my passion for teaching and the arts.