Dutchess Day School Students

Art & Identity is an exhibit of student art work that focuses on the exploration of self-identity by children in grades 5-8. Students focused on looking at oneself through drawing, painting, and collage. The art program at Dutchess Day School emphasizes having an open mind and creating an accepting space for students to feel safe and included and free to express themselves as humans and artists. The conversation around how to make a classroom and school feel safer and more inclusive takes place year round for every grade level. In particular for our middle school students, there is an emphasis on sharing ideas about how we view ourselves at home, in school, and in the world. Within the parameters of the assignment, the students were given freedom to create their self-portraits using paint on wood, paper, and canvas. There were art history lessons centered around artists and art movements including painters Joan Mitchell, Alex Katz, Peter Max, and Chuck Close.