AMHERST — For an opening night reception of self-portraits displayed at the Mead Art Museum gallery, Wildwood School’s first-grade artists become the center of attention, having the opportunity to talk about their works.
Wearing name tags and fielding questions from those attending the mid-December event, explaining decisions on the materials they used and how they chose to represent themselves, the students recently took part in what has become an annual celebration on the Amherst College campus.
For William Robinson, 6, the choices he made in creating his piece was how big to make his head and what to put in the background, ultimately including the flag of England, to represent where he is from, the crest of Manchester City, to show affection for his favorite soccer team, and the word “friends” along with a heart.
“It was cool. I put my favorite stuff in it,” said William, after completing an interview and then posing next to his artwork with his mother, Lydia.
William’s piece was hung alongside many others done by his classmates.
“I’m happy, and I’m excited for everyone to see it,” William said.
Joined by their parents and caregivers, other family members, teachers and staff from the Mead, students get to relate the artistic process as they show off their works, whether done using water colors, crayons, felt, yarn, wood or other materials.
Celebrating her birthday that evening, Sydney Heller, 7, said the most important part for her piece was getting the hair in her self portrait just right.
“I liked making my hair, using a crayon, and making it wavy,” Sydney said. In the background was a pine tree.
Another student showing his work was Anas Abdelrahman, 6, who said he liked everything about the program.
Emily Potter-Ndiaye, Mead’s head of education, wrote in an email that the Mead’s partnership with Wildwood art classes started in 2019.
Since it started, it has evolved and developed to focus on portraiture as a way for first graders to learn about their own identities and others’, and to study artworks in the Mead collections in accessible, age-appropriate ways, Potter-Ndiaye said.
In addition, Mead’s college student museum educators and Hannah Richards, manager of education, visit the first-grade classes, and then host them for a study visit in the museum.
The curriculum has, in recent years, taken inspiration from the Drawing Differences art lessons created by the Amherst-based EmbracerRace.
Wildwood’s art teacher, Laura Evonne Steinman, and the first grade teachers, McCall Tharion, Sara Johnson and Jeffrey Kalma, all help out in introducing the students to methods for blending colors to get accurate skintones, to a variety of media, and to support them in expressing personal stories and personal voices in the portraits.
This year, the students also got a visit from Megan Pamela Ruth Madison, who read from her book “Our Skin.”
“And then we install the finished artworks in the museum, and invite the students and their families out to celebrate with a museum opening,” Potter-Ndiaye said. “It’s truly a highlight of the fall semester for us at the Mead.
During the opening, the students get to do a scavenger hunt and enjoy snacks.
Johnson, as one of the teachers, said the students like the field trip to the Mead, where they get to see some of the self-portraits in the collection before their works hang there.
“They had a great time with it, ” Johnson said. “It produces a lot of great discussions.”
Wildwood Principal Allison Estes was among those joining families, and applauded students as she viewed their works.
“Every year I get very moved by this,” Estes said “I love seeing all the things that make them who they are.”
Estes noted that the level of vulnerability seen in the works of first graders doesn’t exist as they get older, that a self-portrait by a fifth grader would look very different.
With Wildwood School to close after the academic year, Estes said she isn’t sure how the program with the Mead will continue, but hopes that the college sees the value in the partnership and can find a way to work with first graders again when the new elementary school opens.