Self-Portrait 2018

As we've discussed I'm a big believer in modelling assignments in some of my classes (not behavior, certainly, because no one should act like me, but rather how one might attack an assignment).  It's nothing I would do with upper classmen, but I think it can be useful early in the undergraduate experience.  Thus, in my COR 110, Concepts of the Self, class, which students take the first semester at Champlain, I create my own self-portrait.  In the second year I also create my own version of the Velazquez-Picasso project, partially because, as first semester sophomores they're still reasonably new to college, but also because it's a challenging assignment. For the first year students the self-portrait is a requirement, and I think I emphasize it more than any of my worthy colleagues.  This includes starting every day with a brief examination of a different self-portrait from my monstrous self-portrait folder in ArtStor. Every year I start from scratch and create a new self-portrait, which gives the students a template on how one might approach the assignment - although, truthfully, I think they get more from me presenting my self-portrait, which also sets the bar higher for their own presentations.  I always emphasize to the students that they should choose one thing to focus on.  If they tried to tell me everything about their lives in one image  they would, by definition, produce a very surface level work.  Again, modeling the assignment, I choose a different specific thing every year, and I don't always choose something positive.  To me the self-portrait can also be a tool for self-reflection, so choosing a less laudable aspect of your personality is probably useful.  This year I focused on my famous temper. I was interested less in the moment of the explosion, but rather the isolating consequences. Starting with a picture that my most excellent nephew Garrett took of me in the desert outside Liwa in the UAE as my foundation, I ran off a copy and then burned it on my grill - and snapped a couple dozen shots.  Initially I wanted to then take the remnant and lay it down in an actual fire pit and photograph it again in the ashes, emphasizing the expanding aridity.  That said, I actually like how this turned out, so I stopped here.  The students viewed the grill as prison bars, which somehow made it all work all the better.

You can imagine the memes this has already inspired.