These units, particularly in my middle school teaching days, were full of light bulb moments when the students would all at once understand value and its innate ability to transition shape into the coveted realism of form. You could see the victory in their faces, both literally and figuratively.
Being naturally self conscious and terrified of uniqueness, I never had adolescent volunteers for figure models, which left only a brave and foolish teacher to stand on tables and pose for the class to draw.
I combated potentially "too realistic" of drawings by offering extra credit for slim figures... I got stick figures, which defeat the purpose of figure drawing, but salvaged whatever dignity this middle school teacher had left.
As these units progressed, we would cautiously shift from monochromatic charcoal and pencil to color.
Color scares me. Don't get me wrong, I love it. Take a gander in my closet. Color and patterns hang eclectically and yet somehow united from hangers. However, used as a tool at my finger tips, I am far less confident in my relationship with color.
Color theory was an inspirational course for me. It aided in my introduction to the fundamentals of color and breaking through those barriers of fear. Well... that and my cousin, Sara, a former model, who would paint our faces with make up and remind us that "color is your friend".
There is so much that goes into understanding color:
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Complimentary
Analogous
Cool
Warm
Monochromatic
Tints
Shades
Saturations
Color is intricate and complex and just another undeniable fingerprint of the investment of our creator in His tapestry of creation.
"Ms. Wynne/ Mrs. Lamb, how do you make skin color if you're not white?"
Every year. Every unit.
"You mix the three primary colors to make brown and you go from there. We're all brown, just different tints and shades of it."
This answer is accepted by a solid 75% of my students, but there is always that 25%. This quarter precent cannot seem to accept that we are all tints and shades of the same base color. These students are not always your token white kids raised by small minded Southern racists, but they've been my black students, my Latino students, and even my Asian students.
Such a simple concept that we are all the same tints and shades of the same, alas its a concept that has never and will, given the horrifically vile nature of our flesh, never be received fully. Even as I raise a white piece of copy paper as an absurd comparison to my "white" skin, there are gazing pupils of my pupils who just don't seem to accept the unassuming subtleties of skin tone. They are bound by their world view of what they "know" to be true. There are blacks, whites, and browns. That is all and under each label there are expectations and assumptions.
As a teacher, I want my students to embrace the color of their skin, the texture of their hair, the features of their face. I want them to value the differences within and without themselves. I want them to understand that we are all different tints and shades of the same base and beneath that base flows the same red. As a believer, I want to teach this, but I also want to be much more concerned with the soul.
C. S. Lewis tells us that we are not a body, we are a soul inside of a body. The Apostle Paul tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. The Lord tells us that He sees not as man sees. Man looks at the outward, but God looks at the heart.
I am not foolish enough to insinuate or even desire a mindset of color blindness. Such an idea is an insult to our creator and simply ignorant as humans who clearly notice differences. However, I hope my life can foster an appreciation for the humanity that unites us and highlights our desperate need for a savior. I hope to maintain my focus on the true enemy, but more importantly the true victor. The one who is waiting on eternity's shore for his bride to come together. The tree to which all rivers flow from every nation. The one who has overcome the world.
