In Mexico and Haiti, around 40 disadvantaged children and teens recently received handmade portraits of themselves in a collaboration with Marshall’s National Art Honor Society.
Students in NAHS were given photographs of Mexican and Haitian orphans, then recreated them as paintings and drawings. The completed portraits were then sent to the children as keepsakes.
Art student and sophomore Sammi Van Heest, for example, created a portrait (right) of Juan from Mexico (photo at left).
“For me, it was cool because most of the time we do art for ourselves and our personal motivation … it was cool to make art for someone else,” said senior Bridget Manown, who participated in the project.
The exchange was part of the Memory Project, an organization that allows artists around the world to create portraits of children in orphanages.