Image from Painted Ukulele by Nadya

Eighth Grade Self Portraits, Part 1

Each of the Eighth Grade students will be featured with a page of their Self Portrait projects. This week we present the following student works:

Adon and Sun Cakes—Abby Self Portrait

Painted Ukulele—Nadya Self Portrait

Project Drift—Oliver Self Portrait

Some of you may be wondering why I give the eighth grade students the self portrait project assignment each year. I got this idea 19 years ago as I was walking in the snow in New Hampshire.

I thought that a young person who was educated at the Waldorf school of Baltimore,

—an education that was respectful of their delicate unfolding mind,

—an education that nurtured their young and tender heart, to feel themselves in relation to their peers and the world at large,

—an education which cultivated their hands and body to express their ideas in many forms.

Will such a young person be able emotionally, intellectually and artistically to reflect on who they are? 

Will they have an idea what is important to them and have the skills to express it visually?

Over those 19 years I noticed, as I watched the students become adults and make life choices, that those self portraits are in some way like a seed of who they will become later in life. 

I am a practicing artist, which I think is essential when guiding the students in their creative process. 

—Edna K. Emmet, Art and Woodwork Teacher