As tentative, artistic fingers grasp Ticonderoga pencils, executing the newly assigned self-portrait project in Mr. Schoenleber’s “Intro to Art class”, many students are nervous to complete the assignment.

Every year Mr. Schoenleber does this project. “It has a very high success rate even if you consider yourself not to be a good artist,” he said. Students take pictures of themselves and use a grid to enlarge their photo to fit a larger paper. Students have an easier time drawing themselves on a grid and the drawing is more lifelike because the proportions are transferred to fit a larger scale. As a result, many students are pleased with their resulting piece of artwork. The nine best drawings will be chosen for display at the Winter Fine Arts Festival.

One student said she thought she could never produce a drawing that looked like her, but she also said that the project was very enjoyable. “Your features are blown up to un-lifelike proportions to see just how unsymmetrical your face really is.”  The artistic growth displayed by the students is a strong indicator that Mr. Schoenleber will continue to present the self portrait project for years to come – hopefully he will not retire any time soon.