Full Disclosure 

Symbolic Portraits: Outside/Inside 

A mixed-media workshop where we will explore, revisit, select, design, discover, construct, interpret, transform. 

In the studio workshop, each of you will receive an empty wooden box as a container to design a unique mixed-media self-portrait incorporating selected artifacts, memorabilia and art materials. Each box will have a blank cover and empty interior. On the box’s outside lid, you will explore your visual self through a mixed-media collage which will include a black-and-white iPhone self-portrait photograph. Inside the box you’ll use words—text art—to explore what makes you tick: your inner self, the ideas that sustain or inspire or perhaps haunt you: let’s call it your manifesto, what fills and sustains you from inside.    

Getting Started: beginning and preparing for Outside/Inside 

Take a breath. If mixed media collage is a new medium for you, don’t be afraid. It is a rich and inviting medium, using symbol and metaphor, juxtaposition and design, without the need for drawing skills. 

Telling stories visually can stir the viewer; even a single object can set off a complex of emotional responses.  

You need not be an “artist” to create a piece with visual power. Importantly, though, the materials you bring will be key. You will be curating your own stories, and the technique of collage will give you additional ways to create new meaning through layered images and text. The box will represent your individuality, as well as your personal vision.  

For the workshop you will need to bring in these materials: 

• Photographs: Bring in a minimum of 5 printed black and white self-portraits taken on a phone and printed on matte paper. (You can purchase (Canon) matte paper on Amazon.) There should be at least two 5X7” and two 8X10” photos. (Both sizes can be printed on the 8X10” matte paper.) You can also bring in close-ups of your face, your hands, eyes, lips, ears, etc. that you may want to also use. Photo Tips for using the phone are at the end of these instructions.  
• Images from a magazine or the internet to reinforce your theme or your ideas. 
• 3-dimentional objects, e.g., costume jewelry, watches, pins, buttons, knitting needles, lace or denim, wallets, eyeglasses, credit cards, playing cards, mahjong tiles or game pieces, recipes, lines of poetry, maps, passports, fabric, picture frames, doll house furniture, photos, pressed flowers, a spool of thread or bobbin, a page from a book, etc.–any items that will enhance your symbolic self-portrait. Keep in mind the items you select must be small enough to incorporate onto or into this box. Its approximate interior dimensions are 8”X 6”X 1-1/2”; the lid is 7”X10”. 
• More. Bring in more than you think you might need, but keep in mind there will be a wide range of art materials provided for you to use in the workshop itself, so don’t stress about what you may forget.  
• For delving Inside: Inside the box is where you’ll reveal what drives and inspires you from inside yourself. Begin by selecting a single text–a poem, song lyric, quote, prayer or Biblical text, etc. Now the door is opened: what else inside yourself sustains you? Your choices are meant to show us the core of your “manifesto.” Perhaps you want more than a single text or even a flurry of individual words. Fine. Bring them all along.  
• Fair Warning: We have learned a single object can be an entryway through the door of both memory and meaning.  

The night before the workshop, we’ll be asking you to select one of the items that you brought along for your self-portrait and share its importance for you with the group.  

You’ll each have 2 minutes to introduce yourself to us, using your selected object as a visual touchstone for who you are. 

Those Photo Tips We Promised: 

• Experiment with lots of poses and gestures and angles. Play!  
• Select those that speak to you. 
• Use natural light if you can. 
• Set your phone on portrait setting. 
• Try a series of photographs with head and shoulders in the frame, also using different facial expressions or gestures with your hands. Cropping can be a great tool to enlarge of create a focal point. 
• Experiment with different editing options, such as cropping, high contrast lighting, playing with more or less exposure. It is generally better to have someone photograph you or use the self-timer device rather than taking a selfie.  
• Close-ups of your hands and eyes both make expressive storytellers. Play with sizes. 
• Don’t underestimate the power of a plain white or black background, especially with black & white photography.  
• Using a prop (holding an object in your hands) is an option; a prop can be a provocative visual story enhancer, another technique for creating an interesting self-portrait. 

Here are a few “first shot” examples to warm up your creative juices incorporating an object into your self-portrait: 

Looking forward to getting to know you all.

Please don’t hesitate to email us with any questions you may have.