Guest Blogger: Melissa Deletant
Visual Art Specialist at Lapoint and Naples Elementary School, Uintah School District
All students at Lapoint Elementary have spent the last five weeks working on portrait paints of Veterans from the local community. Images of veterans were provided by families, Robert Lucero – Veterans Director for the Ute Indian Tribe, and from various other sources including The Wall of Faces. The students started the first week by learning the proportions of the human face; following the ‘map of the human face’ to locate the placement for the eyes, nose, and mouth. The second week was spent identifying the features that makes each person look different, by drawing their own self-portraits using mirrors. They used the ‘map’ to find the location of each facial feature, but then to look closely as their own specific features that make them unique.
Letters were sent home prior to the third week, requesting that families submit an image of a veteran their students would like to paint. Students that did not have a picture were invited to select a veteran of their choice from images provided for them. The students then spent the next three weeks drawing and painting the portrait of a veteran from their community. Every single lesson always started with a discussion of the different contribution these veterans have made to our lives and the freedoms we enjoy as Americans.
The art work played an important part of the Veteran’s Day celebration held on November 12th, greeting the visiting veterans and families as they entered the lobby of the school.
