Discovering Identity Through Art | Mesa Elementary School | CCSD | Shiprock, NM

September 29, 2015 - Fourth and fifth grade students at Mesa Elementary were busy finishing their latest project in Ms. Elizabeth Larson's art class, but this project was more than a class exercise. The finished projects were entered into the annual Northern Navajo Nation Fair later that week, along with hundreds of other projects from numerous schools around the region. Ms. Larson expressed that this particular project was unique because it incorporated the duality of the students' personal identities by encouraging the students to incorporate their traditional clothing, jewelry, and hairstyles with their modern counterparts. This duality directly tied in with the theme of the fair - Unifying tradition and modern ways. The project served not only to exercise the students' technical proficiency in drawing a portrait, but also to guide them towards a better understanding of their self-identity, incorporating their native culture in contemporary society. Many of Larson's students who had entered their dual-portraits into the fair received ribbons for their exceptional work.