Lesson Plan
ArtsNow

Arts Now Learning: Self Portraits With the Touch of a Finger [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st
For this lesson, students will explore self-portraiture by looking at classical portrait paintings, such as Diego Velazquez's La Infanta Margarita or Raphael's Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione. A close look at these works reveals...
Lesson Plan
Kinder Art

Kinder Art: Drawing (Lesson Plans)

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Forty creative lesson plans on drawing for young scholars of all ages! Each one gives an example, a list of materials, and step-by-step directions. Many of the activities also provide a list of books, vocabulary, extensions, and more!
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Modern American Portrait Drawings

For Students 9th - 10th
Portraits in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery can be seen and understood with excellent gallery notes that also survey the history of portraiture in American art leading up to the modern period.
Lesson Plan
Other

Art Teacher on the Net: Portrait Drawing

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Seven lesson plans with unique approaches to drawing the human face. Web site also includes many other links to art related topics.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: A Brush With History

For Students 9th - 10th
Exhibition of portraits of American heroes, statesmen, writers, artists, scientists, and historical figures draws on the paintings in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery to consider the story of America. View portraits from...
Lesson Plan
ArtsNow

Arts Now Learning: Self Portrait Collage [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st
In this lesson, students look at how non-human images can be used in a self-portrait to portray aspects of a personality.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Milton Avery

For Students 9th - 10th
Listen to the reflections of Wendy Wick Reaves, curator of the National Portrait Gallery. She discusses Sally Michael Avery's pen and ink drawing of her husband, Milton Avery.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Edna St. Vincent Millay

For Students 9th - 10th
Listen to the comments of Wendy Wick Reaves, curator at the National Portrait Gallery, as she discusses the art of William Zorach in the portrait he did of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Lesson Plan
ArtsNow

Arts Now Learning: Self Portrait Drawing [Pdf]

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
In this instructional activity, learners will explore self-portraiture by looking at classical portrait paintings, such as Diego Velazquez's La Infanta Margarita or Raphael's Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione. A close look at these...
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Michelangelo and His Early Drawings

For Students 9th - 10th
Michelangelo's drawings offer a unique insight into how the artist worked and thought. They are beautiful artworks in their own right but also provide a crucial link between his work as a sculptor, painter and architect. Michelangelo was...
Website
Other

National Portrait Gallery: Face It!

For Students 3rd - 8th
This UK site gives us insight into how symbols and colors are used in a portrait to represent certain ideas. You can even take each portrait and have it shown in line drawing - print it out and color it your own way.
Lesson Plan
Marilyn J. Brackney

Imagination Factory: Draw a Portrait

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In addition to providing suggestions for drawing the perfect portrait, Kids at Art looks at Leonardo da Vinci and his ideas about depicting the human figure.
Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: A Closer Look at Value: Self Portraits

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Lesson plan that utilizes Photoshop to teach students about proportion and the grid drawing technique in order to create self-portrait drawings.
Primary
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Picturing Business in America: Hedcuts

For Students 9th - 10th
This site describes the use of distinctive portrait heads, known as hedcuts or dot-drawings, in the Wall Street Journal.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Picturing Business in America: Mary Kay Ash

For Students 9th - 10th
Mary Kay Ash believed in women's talents. Read about the development of her successful cosmetics company and see a hedcut from an exhibit of these dot drawings in the Wall Street Journal.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Ethel Rosenberg

For Students 9th - 10th
Listen to Wendy Wick Reaves, curator at the National Portrait Gallery, discuss this pencil drawing of convicted spy, Ethel Rosenberg, and what the drawing meant to the artist, Elizabeth Catlett.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Stuart Davis

For Students 9th - 10th
Wendy Wick Reaves,a curator at the National Portrait Gallery, discusses the pencil drawing by Stuart Davis and explains how he achieves the look of his self-portrait.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Truman Capote

For Students 9th - 10th
An interesting appraisal of Don Bachardy's portrait of Truman Capote. Listen to Carol Wick Reaves, curator of the National Portrait Gallery, discusses how this drawing is done in the accompanying audiofile.
Lesson Plan
Huntington Library

Huntington Library: Portrait, Please! [Pdf]

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
In this lesson, students are guided in how to interpret a portrait and in how to plan a portrait that is a drawing or a photograph.
PPT
J. Paul Getty Trust

J. Paul Getty Museum: Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Slideshow of important pieces by the renowned Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Includes photos of sculptures and drawings and brief explanations of each piece.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Ornette Coleman

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief audio discussion of Elaine de Kooning's charcoal drawing of saxophonist, Ornette Coleman. Interesting comments by Wendy Wicks Reaves, curator at the National Portrait Gallery.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: John Frederick Finerty by Diego Rivera

For Students 9th - 10th
Wendy Wick Reaves, a curator at the National Portrait Gallery, explains how this charcoal drawing by Diego Rivera reflects his usual medium of painting murals.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Herblock's Presidents

For Students 9th - 10th
Features an online exhibition of the presidential political cartoons of Herbert Block being shown at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. Contains drawings from Franklin Roosevelt through Bill Clinton which can be viewed by...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: Picturing Business in America: Paul Allen

For Students 9th - 10th
From an exhibit of hedcuts from the Wall Street Journal. Two dot-drawings of Paul Allen accompany a biography of this computer entrepreneur.

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