Notre Dame Elementary second grade teacher Wanda Dengel and Barbara Billmann, a second grade teacher at the Grundschule an der Bucher Lache (primary school) in Erlangen, Germany, wanted their students to learn about each other through art. They exchanged artwork using digital technology and Mrs. Dengel’s blogspot.

The art exchange was a result of Mrs.Dengel’s study/tour of Germany in the summer of 2008 sponsored by the Transatlantic Outreach Program of the Goethe Institut. This exchange was initiated in September 2008 via e-mail. The two agreed to exchange actual artwork in May just in time for NDE’s Art Show/Grandparents’ Evening.

The German children’s portraits are a head and shoulders drawing using crayons and markers placed on brightly colored construction paper, while the Notre Dame Elementary students’ portraits are based on some of Picasso’s paintings which he executed during his cubism period.

Mrs. Dengel’s second graders took four digital photographs of themselves which they cut into rectangles, squares, and other geometric shapes and then glued those shapes onto a sheet of cardstock so that they had three or more eyes, or a mouth which was placed in an unusual place, etc. to create self-portraits inspired by Picasso’s cubist period.

The self-portraits of Mrs. Dengel’s students are currently on exhibit in Ms. Billmann’s school in Germany while Ms. Billmann’s students’ self-portraits are on display at Notre Dame Elementary.

After the artwork has been exhibited at the two schools for a few weeks, the self-portraits will be returned to the students via postal mail. The second graders in both Germany and Portsmouth are thrilled that their self-portraits will have been exhibited on two continents.