The Big Idea:

What can a portrait tell you about a person?

Activity overview

Robert Arneson was a major force in the Bay Area Funk art movement of the 1970s. His humorous, witty, and satirical ceramic sculptures challenged conventional ideas at that time about the separation between art and craft. He was particularly well known for his inventive portraits of himself and others. In this activity you will create a pedestal portrait of a person who interests you.

Look closely

Click on each artist button at right to view detailed screens about the artist and his or her works. Be sure to click on all images, view all videos, read all documents, and use the zoom tool to look closely at the works of art.

In this activity you will:

1. look at pedestal portraits by Robert Arneson in the "Gallery" section of Voices and Images of California Art
2. choose a person from history or literature who interests you and write about why
3. create a pedestal portrait of this person and write a short quote or poem about him or her
4. display your finished portrait to the class

You will be graded on:

1. research notes
2. effort in creating the pedestal portrait
3. appropriateness of words selected to enhance the portrait

New terms:

portrait, pedestal