PUPIL PORTRAITS — East Garfield Elementary School pupils enhanced their creativity and completed works of famous artists. Art teacher Marla Phillips showcased Black artists during Black History Month, teaching fourth-graders about 20th-century artist Kehinde Wiley. Wiley is known for recreating past portraits which have a colorful background. Pupils participating in creating famous works included, from left, Vincent Moyers, Rembrandt’s self-portrait; Amiya Hayes, Pablo Picasso’s “Portrait of Dora Maar;” and Cayden Lyons, Sergey Malyutin’s, “Portrait of Dmitry Furmanov.” -- Contributed

STEUBENVILLE — Pupils attending East Garfield Elementary School embraced history through art, bringing famous Black artists to life.

Children in grades kindergarten through fourth studied the stylings of various artists, creating their own pieces in teacher Marla Phillips’ art classes. Many recognized creative minds in honor of Black History Month and showcased shapes and textures in a unique light. Phillips, who has done the projects for the last five years, said they have become quite popular.

“I think Black History Month is very important and these are Black Americans who have done important things and don’t always get recognized,” she said.

Kindergarteners made geometric and organic shapes in the style of master colorist Reggie Laurent. First-grade pupils created mosaics similar to Alma Thomas, the first African-American woman to study art at Howard University.

“These projects vary depending on the student’s grade level,” Phillips said. “I included the geometrical project because I teach art and one of the elements is shape. Laurent uses organic and geometric shapes and the children traced shapes and also created their own.”

Second-graders formed African personality masks, while third-graders held an art contest during the school’s literacy night. Their works featured free drawings and colorful renderings which were layered with crayon in order to depict texture. Fourth-graders literally put themselves into paintings, recreating famous works.

Phillips commented pupils learned about notable 20th-Century African-American artist Kehinde Wiley, who is best known for his colorful portrait of former President Barack Obama. The young artists posed as figures in famous portraits from the past. Among them were Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” and Leonardo da Vinci’s, “Lady with an Ermine.”

Phillips said the Wiley projects have become popular, with pupils using their imagination through their artwork. She explained she uses the same projects as everyone creates art differently, and each year, the art is different.

Phillips made a “Look What I Can Do,” display on one wall of the school. The wall displays the famous artists and using Wiley’s method of staging past portraits with vibrant colors and flowers in the background.

The pupils put themselves in various artists’ works, including Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte’s, “The Son of Man” and Sergey Malyutin’s, “Portrait of Dmitry Furmanov.”