The Classes: Visual Art I: Sculpture and Visual Art II: Advanced Studio

Visual Art I: Sculpture examines sculpture, kinetic art, assemblage, carving, and other forms of three-dimensional art. Through projects that stress problem solving and experimentation, students explore form, space, line, shape, composition, mass, scale, and proportion. Projects may include sculptures that move, traditional carved objects, paper constructions, and self-portraits.

Visual Art II: Advanced Studio provides students with the visual language of artistic representation and abstraction. In this course, emphasis is placed on observational drawing and painting, methods and entry points for abstraction, and approaches to mixing media effectively. Students explore improvisation, collage, appropriation, and other methods of image creation. The second quarter of the class is primarily devoted to individual work around a central theme during which students write artist statements, manifestos on the central theme, and comments on works in progress via blogs and Schoology.

The Task: Create Self-Portrait Shoes

For this project, students turned a pair of white shoes into a self-portrait while focusing on a conceal/reveal theme. Visual Arts Teacher Ty Talbot told students that the shoes should simultaneously conceal and reveal something about the designer. Students answered a personal-identity questionnaire that asked about their heritage, things they love doing, and a metaphor that describes them. Ty asked students to think about how they could show the viewer different sides of themselves through color, metaphor, and pattern. They considered color versus black/white; inside versus outside of the shoe; the sole and the tongue; and left foot versus right foot. 

“The objective was to tell a story, have fun while doing so, and to take this project out into the world,” said Ty. “I want my students to see that art exists in so many places that they might not notice, like in their clothing and their phones and on the album covers of the music that they stream. Nick Cave’s Soundsuits [metaphorical suits of armor that blend fashion and sculpture] were one inspiration for this project.”   

During this school year, Ty wants his students to feel joyful about being back together and he thought it would be fun to use a canvas shoe as a medium. “I am always looking for surfaces that are not two-dimensional, and I am pretty sure that kids love shoes,” he said.

The Outcomes

Students did preliminary sketches on a shoe template and that prework and their time and effort resulted in a high level of design, said Ty. “I love that some students focused on their heritage, some focused on what they loved to do, and others used metaphors. One student thought of themselves as a turtle with a hard external shell and the other shoe had turtles swimming in the sea to show their fun side. When we debriefed, I could tell people were proud of their work because they had a lot to say about their projects.”

Below, four students share their self-portrait shoes.

Gabrielle P., 12th grade

Last semester, I studied braiding and traditional African American hairstyles and learned how to draw braids. African American hair isn’t well-represented in media; I’ve never been able to find a video on how to draw braids. I painted yellow, purple, and green braids on one side to represent my French Creole heritage. This heritage reminds me of my grandfather who passed away last year. When we went over to his house, he would make gumbo and sometimes speak to me in French. I feel more connected to him through this culture. I painted red, black, and green on the other side to represent the African American community in the United States. Inside of the shoes, I drew the African continent and highlighted countries that my dad found out his ancestors where from because he took a DNA test. If someone asked me about my identity, I wouldn’t mention those countries because I didn’t grow up learning about their cultures. I really enjoyed learning about my identity through this project. I also don’t think very much about what I conceal and what I reveal and what I really want to conceal and reveal. I also liked learning about the process of drawing on canvas, like how it would fray if you overworked the fabric.

Abby M., 11th grade

I wanted my design to be reminiscent of Chinese culture. The floral pattern is similar to Chinese qipao, which is a type of Chinese clothing, and red is a lucky Chinese color. I’m very disconnected from my culture, so I felt this would be an interesting way to tie-in my history with my everyday life. I really enjoy working on projects that have practical uses outside of being art. It gives me more drive to make it the best it can be since it will be seen by a lot of people. I learned that throughout any art process, things will change and the way you planned for the project to go may differ from the final. I’ve been taking art classes for years and I like the peaceful atmosphere. I’m always surprised by how creative and unique artists can be with their work.

Pascale C., 10th grade

Through my self-portrait shoes, I showed my interests and family history in science and my connection to the ocean. The pets in my family are named after NASA missions (Apollo and Artemis), and the galaxy is the APOD (Astronomy Picture for the Day) for my birthday. I showed a picture of the night sky and revealed the galaxy by zooming in. I concealed the undersea activity with fog and revealed what was going on under the surface. I liked working with fabric paint, since I hadn't worked with that medium in this style before. I learned about how fabric paint behaves, and how to organize my scenes around a shoe. In the art classes I have taken, I like how we are encouraged to use many different materials and mediums to create art.

Yoshi M., 12th grade

The waves in all directions on one side represent my more fun side. The cherry blossom trees on the other side represent my more Zen side. Both cherry blossoms and the rising sun are significant in Japanese culture. My mom is 100 percent Japanese, and I wanted to represent that culture. I try to be more fun when I am with other people. If you are alone with me, you can understand the more relax and chill side of me. I wanted to reveal and conceal at the same time. You might only look at one side at a time, but the longer you look at the shoes or if you get to know me, then you can see both sides of me. I liked having an open canvas do what we wanted and that we could try to make something significant with the shoes.

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