This project came about at the annual AEV Art Education Conference.

I was having a chat to a fellow art teacher, Greg Smith from Geelong College, about how I could start my new VCE Studio Arts (Printmaking and Mixed Media) course with something exciting and engaging. We got to speaking about this monoprint project that he had developed with his senior students.

The students begin by exploring their internal aesthetic preferences, using monoprinting. We spoke about texture, colour, and movement. They then tore/cut up their portraits to produce a 'innate self portrait' giving suggestions of facial features.

These were photographed and combined with photographic portraits using Photoshop, where the students played with layers, and pushing back and pulling forward certain facial features. These layered portraits were then printed onto watercolour paper, and worked back into using charcoal/ink or mixed media.

As you can see the results were beautiful. Each of the students produced something completely individual.

Samantha Caddey
Visual Art Teacher
St Margret's School, Berwick
Suitable for level 5 & 6