Your life in pictures

Teaching Pre K-8, Nov/Dec 2001 by daSilva, Karen Ernst

Art in Your Curriculum

Making a "visual autobiography" can lead to self-discovery.

It's one thing to draw or paint an object for the sake of getting it to look "real," but it's more common for an artist to paint meaning. Just as writing can help you discover meaning - especially if you write as a way of thinking - drawing objects that show something about you can be a way of discovering and thinking about who you are and what has meaning for you.

This past year, I went to the Sol LeWitt Retrospective at the Whitney Museum in New York City. In addition to his "wall drawings" - abstract paintings covering entire walls of the museum there was a room that contained his "visual autobiography"- photos of the things in his apartment and studio that showed what he cared about. There were photos of shelves of books, containers that held his pencils and brushes, all of the chairs he sat on, his many hats, his drawing table and tables where he sat to eat and entertain. I felt as though I was peeking inside his life.

Your favorite things

Try this along with me. Make a list of the things you collect or things that seem to identify who you are. You may be surprised at what you list, just as I was. My list includes chairs (rocking chairs, the chair where I sit each morning, antique chairs at my kitchen table), jars and containers for my drawing supplies, pencils (colored pencils, watercolor pencils, stick pencils and even a pencil I kept from my childhood because I carved my name on it!), trunks (including my great-grandfather's riverboat trunk) and much more.

Self-discovery

Once I made my list, I began drawing. The piece I've included here is a watercolor "drawing" of my canvas bag - the one in which I keep my traveling supplies of drawing and writing materials, and in which I carry books or materials I need for teaching and doing workshops.

As I sketched the bag, I thought about why I love to have a variety of bags, how they make me feel artistic, and why that's important to me. When I painted the yellow pencil in the bag, it got me thinking about my next autobiography installment - my collection of pencils.

For each piece you draw, write what you think about the object in the picture, what you discovered about yourself or the story that each picture tells about you. Remember, it's the meaning that counts here, not your ability to make a realistic picture.

Karen Ernst daSilva is a writer and consultant a former Resource Teacher in Westport, CT and a Teaching Editor of Teaching K-8. E-mail: artked@aol.com