THS Art Society Students Make Portraits for Charity

Painting portraits may not be the first idea that comes to mind when brainstorming charity projects, but the members of the  Art Society have put their talents to fantastic use, creating keepsake portraits from photographs of orphaned children in Guatemala as part of the My Class Cares charity program.

Club leader and art teacher Evangeline Abbott said that she immediately started organizing the project after receiving a postcard about The Memory Project from My Class Cares.

"I think it's fantastic because it shows them [the orphans] that there's a kid somewhere in the world who cares enough to make their portrait," Abbott said. 

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The portraits that the students created will be sent back to Guatemala and given to each child. On the My Class Cares website, it explains that many young recipients value the portraits, because they are often one of the few keepsakes or images they'll have of themselves as a child.

Junior Bruno Perosino said that he and his peers felt the pressure to not only bring to life the image of each child, but to also portray a bit of their personality.

"I hope they feel like we've captured who they are," he said.  "I just wanted to figure out the way to best represent the kid."

Abbott said that the art society students worked on their portraits for several months. She added that it can be a challenging task to accurately recreate a photograph into a portrait, but said that the students did a great job.

But beyond teaching artistic skills, Abbott hopes that the students learn some larger lessons from giving back to those in need.

"I think the project makes the world feel both larger and smaller to them at the same time," she said. "It helps them find a sense of how they fit into the larger picture."

It's a message that the students seem to have taken to heart. 

"I want them to think that somebody who they don't even know thinks that they're beautiful," said freshman Elena Gaughan.

Check out the picture of the students with their portraits, posted above.