This art workshop shows students that self-portraits allow the artist to share something special about him- or herself with the viewer, and lets them create self-portraits of their own.

For this activity, you'll need the following materials: oil pastels; heavy construction paper or posterboard cut to at least 12" by 15"; glue sticks; photocopies of student photographs, enlarged to 8.5" by 11". You'll need about an hour for this activity.

• With your students, look at Maya Christina Gonzalez's self-portrait in Just Like Me (page 8). Read the artist's statement and discuss it with the students. Could students tell, looking at the picture, that Maya thinks paintbrushes in her hair make her look good? What did they think the light shining from Maya's heart meant? Talk with the students about how a picture can share something about themselves in a way that's different from words.
• Ask students to think about what is invisible inside of them that they would like to share. It could be something big, like a light in your heart. Or it could be simple, like using paintbrushes to show that you love art.
• In order to create her self-portrait, Maya Christina Gonzalez took a black and white photograph, enlarged it on the xerox machine, and painted over the image. Recreate this process with your students. Using black and white film, take simple headshots of each student and then blow them up to fill an entire sheet of paper.
• Once students have decided what it is they want to share, have them layer color over the photograph with oil pastels, inserting new elements into the image, or changing the image to convey this invisible part of themselves. Tell students that sometimes it can be scary to share what's invisible or to change your photograph. That's okay—students can be brave and create self-portraits which share important parts of themselves.