Collage Portraits with Seniors

I often do a lesson with my 5th-graders that I like to call, 'wrapping paper self-portraits'. It was inspired by artists, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gilbert Stuart, and Amedeo Modigliani's "Girl With Braids". 

Rauschenberg collages

by Vera De-Gernier

For my recent class with seniors, I decided that we would explore collage portraits using a variety of styles and methods. As the inspiration, I used Robert Rauschenberg's collages of JFK  as inspiration. I also found a mixed-media collage of Marilyn Monroe.

My own example (left) is inspired by the Baseball HOF induction of Edgar Martinez following my recent trip to Cooperstown, NY. Tissue paper is very easy to apply using liquid starch as the adhesive. Simply brush the surface of the paper with a little starch, then carefully lay cut or torn pieces of tissue where you want it and coat lightly with more starch. You don't need much starch. The less you use the quicker it will dry. As there is a tendency to use too much starch, your paper may curl and need to be lightly ironed later to flatten. Instead of regular white construction paper, we used an old pad of stiffer watercolor paper.

Here are some more examples I found on the Internet that were used to further inspire my senior students to create their own collages.

I am pleased to say that everyone went outside the box and created something completely their own. We even went high-tech with a monitor for displaying examples.

I'm excited to show the amazing results from a very successful collage portraits class. In addition to using tissue paper for the chicken (left), the artwork on the right made use of floral napkins in her collage.

This 'Gardener' (left) reminds me of the character Wilson from the old Tim Allen show, "Home Improvement". Mary's version is probably an homage to Mrs. Wilson.

The collage (right) makes use of a National Geographic photo of an archaeological dig. The artist made a collage surrounded by rocks to form a beautiful canyon setting for her landscape. The torn paper edges and range of values contribute to a balanced composition pleasing to the eye.

Judy challenged herself to make her collage from a family portrait. She placed a photo under a piece of clear acetate and began to draw the facial features using a silver Sharpie, then she pasted both torn and cut out pieces of patterned paper on as details. I suggested adding cardstock behind the decorated acetate to stabilize the work. She added the frame in a contrasting color. A truly beautiful result!!

The final portrait is very lively, complete with wonderful textures and colors. This artist found the hat (I'm guessing) in a magazine, along with several other great patterned papers. Notice the hair is actually fishes swimming in blue water. This work may look simple, but it was very well-planned and executed using contrasting colors and a variety of value and texture. The simple background makes the old man stand out. Well done!