Expressive faces in art - introduction to the 2002-03 Clip & Save art prints

Arts & Activities, Sept, 2002 by Guy Hubbard

Family photographers almost always include the command, "Smile" or "Cheese," in an effort to get people to express pleasure or happiness. Of course, there are always a few in any group who take the opportunity to pull a face or sulk.

Whatever happens, the least desirable outcome is for the people to show no emotion at all. Emotionless faces are just not very interesting--whether in family snapshots or student artworks. Smiles, however, are only one of a wide range of facial expressions that people use constantly to communicate their feelings and that artists incorporate into their work to give it greater feeling.

Feelings such as sadness, anger and pain are usually easy to identify, but there are also many other kinds of expressions. And, while expressions may indicate emotions, faces also communicate other things, such as innocence in children or bad health in old people.

Of all the keys to reading human faces, eyes are the most expressive. So it is no wonder that most people prefer to have eye contact with people they are talking to. Eyes may be watchful or sleepy. They may glare with boldness and arrogance. They may be downcast and timid. They may be glazed with passion. In sharp contrast, blind people are likely to wear very different expressions because hearing has replaced seeing for gathering information about the world around them.

Mouths are also important guides to people's feelings, because they are so rubbery and flexible. They may be open or they may be closed. Teeth may be gleaming and perfectly shaped, or they may be stained and broken. Mouths may be twisted or straight. Creases around mouths can increase the appearance of a mouth. And, in combination with eyes and the way a person's head is tilted or turned, many different meanings are possible.

Smiles, for example, may have to do with simple pleasures, but some people may have greedy smiles of anticipation-for food or even the pleasure in harming another person. While an almost invisible smile may suggest that the person has a secret. While feelings may be communicated by a wide range of facial expressions, actors use theatrical makeup to emphasize particular qualities possessed by the characters they portray. It may take hours for an actor's face to be altered with makeup to play a character in a motion picture, a stage play or an opera. On other occasions, actors and dancers wear masks that permit them immediately to take on the identity of the character they are playing. Masks are regularly used in this way in the arts of Far Eastern cultures as well as in numbers of tribal cultures around the world.

While the focus of Clip & Save articles this year is to focus on facial expressions, faces cannot really be separated from the people's bodies and the poses they take. Such a message in a pose is often called "body language." The message conveyed by a person's face may be most important, but it may be much enhanced by the body position. A swaggering bully, for example, will stand quite differently from a girl about to enter a swimsuit contest.

The Clip & Save articles this year will feature 10 very different artistic interpretations that focus on people's faces. This selection indicates something of the tremendous diversity that exists and will hopefully encourage students to search for others on their own, while also experimenting with facial expressions in their own art.

THE CLIP & SAVE ART PRINT FORMAT

Each Art Print and related text continues to be organized--as in preceding years--so that readers will know what to expect and be able to find information that could be useful to them. As usual, the center spread will be occupied with a large, full-color reproduction of an artwork suitable for classroom display.

Because people's facial expressions are such a universal means of communication, artworks for these articles have been selected from numbers of different cultures, as well as from different times in history.

The page before the center spread includes information and ideas about how to use the Art Print in the classroom. The opening section has to do with information that students can learn about the artist.

The next section, "Things to Do in School," offers suggestions for classroom activities based on the artwork. Lastly, "Building a Picture File," is intended to help teachers and students make full instructional use of the print. A method for helping teachers organize Art Print images efficiently in a teaching file is available on request. The page following the reproduction includes notes expressly about the work illustrated in the center spread that, once again, teachers may find useful in their teaching.

USING CLIP & SAVE ART PRINTS The single most important thing a teacher can do with the prints is display them on the classroom wall and direct student attention to them. Students might be asked questions about the meanings of the images with answers derived from the accompanying notes. After some preparatory thought, teachers can also encourage students to participate in discussions about the artworks and help make them be more confident when defending their opinions in public.