Art I Memory Project

From Ms. Keough-Schmidt, Rice Fine Arts Teacher: All three of my ART 1 classes participated this year, approximately 50 students. This is a project that I became involved with 3 years ago. I select a country that is offered... this year I chose Malaysia. Memory Project then mails me the photographic images of children living in refugee settlements due to war, famine, natural disaster etc... This year many of the children were refugees from Syria resettled in Malaysia. I have students select a child they wish to paint and then I load images into Adobe Photoshop and "posterize" each face (create a 4 value depiction) and students use their knowledge of color theory and particularly "color values" to render the image. They use a complementary color for background and many chose to stamp a pattern in background as well. Students are asked to "connect" to each child by copying their handprint on the back of portrait and a short message. They are also asked to attach a photo of themselves so these recipients can see who painted them. The students love this project. They are shown brief film on the situations these kids are in and that really motivates them. They also view videos from past Rice Memory Project countries. Watch for the reaction of this year's Memory Project portrait recipients - https://vimeo.com/402225080/20bc2e30cc