In this virtual workshop, students investigate portraiture through historical and contemporary ceramic artworks, comparing an 18th-century portrait cup of Benjamin Franklin with contemporary artist Roberto Lugo’s Good Trouble vase, featuring civil rights leader John Lewis. Students discuss identity, representation, civic leadership, and artistic choices before creating their own original self-portrait drawing.
After completing this program students will be able to:
• Explain that a portrait is a representation of a person and that portraits tell stories about people and communicate who society chooses to remember
• Consider how artists can expand stories represented on art by including portraits of people whose contributions have historically been overlooked
• Investigate historical figures, civic leaders, and changing historical narratives
• Explore personal identity and self-expression through creating an original self-portrait
Program agenda:
5 min | Greeting and introduce Hillwood and the program’s theme of portraiture – how individuals are represented through artwork
10 min | Activity 1
• Look closely at a ceramic cup with a portrait of Ben Franklin; play a visual game to spot 5 differences between an image of the cup & an altered version of the image; notice how these details in the portrait provide information about the portrait’s subject
10 min | Activity 2
• Compare and contrast the historic cup with a ceramic vase made by contemporary artist Roberto Lugo
30 min | Self-Portrait Drawing Workshop
• Inspired by Lugo’s art, students will participate in a portrait-drawing workshop, led by a teaching artist, who leads students step-by-step through drawing self-portraits using basic shapes
5 min | Conclusion
• Students have the opportunity to share the self-portraits they made during the program with the program instructor and their classmates
Throughout the program, students have the opportunity to ask questions and have their questions answered in real time.
Program facilitators use inquiry-based discussions to engage students in exploring art.