Imagine painting a portrait without ever meeting the subject. Two high school art classes did that this spring. They worked from photographs. There was no face-to-face contact; no phone calls to get acquainted. Of course, phone calls wouldn’t help since the subjects could only bark or purr.
Cornwall faculty members Hara Fiato and Suzi Brassard came up with the idea. They thought it was a great way for Drawing and Painting 1 students “to capture the personality and spirit of an animal visually.” So they approached the people at the Hudson Valley SPCA Shelter, and they were enthusiastic.
Of course, using photographs was the only option. There was no time for class trips to the shelter. And the volunteers certainly couldn’t bring the animals to the high school.
The students liked the idea, because they were helping an agency that many of them support. You may have wondered what happens to the finished paintings. Do they remain in the school? Do the students take them home?
The answer to both possibilities is “no.” The paintings will be used to help the animals get adopted. And once the pets find “forever homes,” the artwork will go with them and will belong to their new families.
The project started with the students choosing a famous artist and observing their use of design, color and placement. Victoria Costanz and Meghan Gonyo both chose Norman Rockwell and studied his illustrations for the covers of The Saturday Evening Post.
Meghan even put the name of the magazine at the top of her portrait — making it look like her dog was the feature story of the week. The girls didn’t choose their subjects. They just received a photograph along with the animal’s name. Victoria got “Sasha” and Meghan got a pooch named “Buster” — a handle that tells you something about his personality.
Although Meghan volunteers at the shelter, she’s never met Buster. We don’t know if any of her classmates have met their animals. And we wonder if any students will adopt a pet and keep their artwork.
As the class title implies, Drawing and Painting 1 can be the start of a sequence. Students can opt to take Drawing and Painting 2, and then move on to the AP Studio Class.
