BY ANUM AZAM
Correspondent

Eighth-graders Devin Velez (l-r) and Alba Sorrano work on self-portraits during art class at Red Bank Middle School. Digital photos were manipulated and embellished to create the finished images (below). RED BANK - Surrounded by half-finished paintings and a wide range of art supplies, Red Bank Middle School's eighth-graders busily embellished their self-portraits in art class recently, readying them for display in the Red Bank Public Library on West Front Street.

The exhibit will be up through the end of March, and art teacher Catherine Doherty has been rotating the portraits on display to allow more of the students' work to be seen.

"In eighth grade, students have the attention span to learn how to draw. Doing self-portraits is a good motivator," said Doherty, who was responsible for the project idea.

Standing at the front of the sunlit art room amid neatly arranged portfolios of the incoming art class, she added, "This is teaching people to draw in a method that is accessible to them."

The self-portrait project caught on quickly at Red Bank Middle School, even attracting fifth-graders to after-school sessions in which they attempted to complete their own portraits through the method taught to older students by Doherty. Students used a grid to draw pictures in parts, box by box, beginning with the comparatively simple likeness of a horse.

Digital photographs of students' faces in harsh lighting, to maximize differences in contrast, were then manipulated using a computer program to appear in black and white. Students drew and carefully painted their portraits using a superimposed grid.

They repeated this procedure with photographs in black, white and gray, and then in black, white and two shades of gray, with each painting more complex and accurate than the last.

The students were then prepared to produce their final self-portraits, in which they used their knowledge of complementary colors and art history to create colorful representations of their original paintings. According to Doherty, part of the focus of the class is teaching art history with a hands-on approach in order to connect concepts.

The self-portrait project used artistic techniques developed by famed commercial artist Andy Warhol and photo-realistic painter Chuck Close, such as printing and drawing using grids, she said.

Indeed, history is a running theme in art class at middle school, which comprises the fourth through eighth grades.

Fifth-graders study and emulate the works of ornithologist John James Audubon. Sixth-graders complete projects related to the classical art of the Greeks and Romans. In seventh grade, students move to the Renaissance, producing artwork in the styles of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Eighth-graders focus on 20th-century art.

"I think that art is a way of expressing yourself and using creativity, like writing," said eighth-grade student Kelvin Gonzalez. "It makes you think."

Students agreed that art class this year, though fun, required great attention. "Concentration is a big part of art class, because it's specific," commented eighth-grader Vincent Bowles, adding that the art exhibit in the library will "let people know that we work hard in this school." However, progress is apparent at this late stage in the process. Pausing while painting, eighth-grade student Princess Johnson said, "At the beginning of the year, I wouldn't know how to do this."

Classmate Paul Ashton agreed, referencing the students' original attempts at drawing a horse freehand.

"It was crazy, but the grids made it easier. When I first came into class, I couldn't draw," he said.

"But, Dr. Doherty makes it fun," he continued. "Art is my favorite class, painting is my favorite thing. In other classes you must wait for instruction when you get done with your work, but in art class, you do something new every day."