The Vulnerability of Silhouettes

One thing I like about silhouette profile portraits is that it literally shows a side of yourself that you don't see. In this way, it leaves us a bit vulnerable. It takes us years to get used to the way we look, all the while we are aging and changing and then we look at our profile and feel estranged from ourselves. Do I really look that much like Marge Simpson? Oh boy. Making a profile portrait is an exercise in self acceptance and accepting the fact that we need other people to help us see the full human being that we are.

When you look at all the profiles in the class you see how diverse the human race is, especially in a cosmopolitan city like Vancouver. The positive and negative space in each portrait reveals the unique way each person takes up space in the world. At Christmas I made silhouettes of my son and my partner and I. "Whose nose does your son have?" someone asked. "I hope it's not mine!" I answered. The silhouette is the form, your personality, your intelligence, and your soul is the content. All our lives we struggle with the push-pull relationships with the form and content of our selves. Coming to terms with the form our body takes is a lifelong journey. Learning to see the invisible beauty, or people's "content" is one of the most important life-skills.

In order to make an interesting silhouette you can jazz it up with some of your wardrobe or costume pieces. Think about how the hat and the collar on your jacket or shirt with affect your profile from the side. Please bring these wardrobe pieces to the next class I teach. I'll be taking a photo of each of you from the side which I will print and enlarge to 11 by 17 inches. You will draw a line around your profile and cut on the line. This is your stencil. You will trace that positive shape onto black paper with a light-colored pencil crayon. Cut out the silhouette using a sharp scissors and/or exacto knife.

I am also going to give you a plant that is native to BC. You'll pick a plant name from a hat and then do in depth research on that plant. You'll be drawing this plant in different styles, so find some good images for reference.