Personal Symbols, Personal Mythology

The Big Idea:

What role do symbols play in defining a person's identity? Can symbols have multiple meanings?

Activity overview

Everyone searches for and finds his or her own identity through a wide variety of experiences and expressions. Often a system of personal symbols can express that identity. Artists may construct a private symbolic language in order to talk about themselves or to grapple with the world's injustices and challenges. In this activity you will create a piece of art that reflects your own personal symbolism.

Look closely


In this activity you will:

  1. look at several artists and their use of personal symbolism
  2. list your own personal traits and create symbols to represent them
  3. create a self-portrait and present it to the class
  4. reflect on your classmates' portraits and how their symbolism represents their personalities

You will be graded on:

  1. notes on symbols and artists in Making Sense of Modern Art
  2. quality, craft, and attention to design in self-portrait
  3. originality and completeness of self-portrait
  4. participation in class critique
  5. written reflection

New terms: