Middle School Art Teacher David Anderson’s article was published in the October 2025 issue of SchoolArts, a national art education magazine committed to promoting excellence, advocacy, and professional support for educators in the visual arts. The article, titled “Fingerprint Portraits,” explores Anderson’s approach to a unit by the same name that he teaches to sixth graders at Gilman — from the work that inspired the idea to the final piece students create to tell their personal stories.

The project combines writing, drawing, and cartography to create a comprehensive conceptual self-portrait. The process to complete the final works of art includes multiple steps: journal prompts, printing and tracing thumbprints, freeform expressive writing, facial profile drawing, and identity mapping. “The feedback I received from students was that they enjoyed this unit, and it was insightful for me to read and hear about the decisions they made in their artwork,” Anderson says. “It allowed me to get to know what theyʼre like beyond the classroom.”

Read the article