Meet Ms. Hairoic!
With the help of two co-teachers, we collaboratively developed a middle school art lesson based on empowerment (click on the button below to read about this lesson). To summarize, this lesson is about teaching empowerment and confidence by turning oneself into a superhero. A characteristic of this superhero is that the superpower has to be representative of the artist, such as something that makes them unique. To promote confidence, I designed my superhero to have powerful hair, representing my newfound confidence with my natural hair. I used to straighten my hair all the time, but over the past year, I have discovered that my natural hair makes me unique, and I shouldn't hide it. I like sharing this with my students because it shows them how something you may not like about yourself can be the best thing about you.
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For an independent study course I took Fall of 2022, I used this lesson idea to inspire a series of 18 x 24-inch works. Shown below, I created Ms. Hairoic in a new light: something more realistic and more in my style. I wanted to develop Ms. Hairoic with the same costume, mask, and long hair, but I wanted to bring more attention to the hair by putting some color that dramatically stands out compared to the black and white paint. Since the hair is the power of Ms. Hairoic and where the meaning stems from, I wanted to draw the most attention to it. I use line, color, contrast, and movement in the hair to capture the audience's eyes.
Although confidence and embracing naturalness are these pieces' most vital messages, my color choices were intentional. For the work on the left, I chose gold to make Ms. Hairoic seem strong, valuable, and unique, just like her hair. Her front-forward stance and her staring right at the audience are also supposed to push her strength. For the second piece, I chose pink to symbolize femininity. Growing up, I felt less attractive and not as feminine with my curly hair, which is why I always straightened it because, at the time, that's what all the girls around me were doing. I wanted to show Ms. Hairoic in a blushy tone to create a sense of femininity and capture my love for my natural hair. The moon symbol also helps with this idea of femininity since the moon is spiritually tied to women.
Overall, I enjoyed turning Ms. Haoric, a symbol of myself, into a completely realistic depiction. Seeing her in a more natural light helped me feel my confidence and empowerment even more than when I created the cartoon version. It makes this confidence feel more real to me, which is fantastic. I enjoyed painting in this style, especially the hair. The hair, in my opinion, is the most exciting part of the work, and it was my favorite part to create. I also loved the idea of building myself in a piece of work in such a positive light since I don't usually do that. I can't wait to make more pieces for this series, but I already feel delighted with how these two pieces turned out and how they work together. Ms. Haoric will now live on forever, just as I hope the importance of confidence and embracing who you are lives on.
Although confidence and embracing naturalness are these pieces' most vital messages, my color choices were intentional. For the work on the left, I chose gold to make Ms. Hairoic seem strong, valuable, and unique, just like her hair. Her front-forward stance and her staring right at the audience are also supposed to push her strength. For the second piece, I chose pink to symbolize femininity. Growing up, I felt less attractive and not as feminine with my curly hair, which is why I always straightened it because, at the time, that's what all the girls around me were doing. I wanted to show Ms. Hairoic in a blushy tone to create a sense of femininity and capture my love for my natural hair. The moon symbol also helps with this idea of femininity since the moon is spiritually tied to women.
Overall, I enjoyed turning Ms. Haoric, a symbol of myself, into a completely realistic depiction. Seeing her in a more natural light helped me feel my confidence and empowerment even more than when I created the cartoon version. It makes this confidence feel more real to me, which is fantastic. I enjoyed painting in this style, especially the hair. The hair, in my opinion, is the most exciting part of the work, and it was my favorite part to create. I also loved the idea of building myself in a piece of work in such a positive light since I don't usually do that. I can't wait to make more pieces for this series, but I already feel delighted with how these two pieces turned out and how they work together. Ms. Haoric will now live on forever, just as I hope the importance of confidence and embracing who you are lives on.
Artists Who Inspired This Artwork
Cece Bell is an author and illustrator from Richmond Virginia. At the age of four she lost most of her hearing after contracting meningitis. Bell attended college for an art degree as well as a illustration and design degree. She is the author of the Eisner-winning book El Deafo. The character El Deafo is based on her experience as a person with hearing impairment. El Deafo's power is her hearing box.
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Hebru Brantley is an artist from Chicago whose main inspiration is from him growing up reading comic books. In these books he didn’t see a lot of representation of black individuals, so he made his own. Brantley creates and reimagines superheroes that black kids and kids of color can identify with. Some of these superheroes include "FlyBoy" and "BatGirl".
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Neysa Bové is from Andorra, a small country outside of Spain. When she was 9 her family moved to the U.S.
Over the years Bové has gotten jobs for Mattel as a Barbie designer, and as a costume designer for Disney animation. For Disney she works as a costume designer, and has worked on Frozen II, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Moana, and Encanto. |