Seventh grade art enrichment students at Newtown Middle School spent the day on Friday, February 26, working on a project during an "in-house" field trip, overseen by art teachers Leigh Anne Coles and Kristen Ladue.Time Magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People of 2015." Ms Coles said they tried to pick people the students would know and feel are important. The students were then instructed on how to grid the photographs, and how to find and mix the dominant color in each grid. When viewed from far away, the grids should look similar to the original images.

For the entire school day, which was shortened due to a delayed opening that morning, students worked on stretching their own canvases and learning how to grid then paint "pixilated portraits."

Ms Coles said the idea for the project was inspired by portraits created with Lego blocks she saw while using Pinterest. The teachers chose photos for the students to use from the

The project, Ms Coles explained, was also based on the new curriculum for the art department this school year, which she said bases projects on cultural concepts. The concept for this project was the portrait. Students were also expected to read and research about the person they chose to paint.

Some of the portraits students could choose from were Tim Cook, Bob Iger, Emma Watson, Scott Kelly, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Malala Yousafzai, Danny Meyer, and Pardis Sabeti.

"I'm just excited they get to learn the whole process of getting a painting done," said Ms Ladue. "I think that is really important."

Ms Ladue spoke to the students about color theory before they began mixing colors for their projects from only primary colors, white, and black paint.

While students worked on their portraits they were asked to consider the principles of design, how color would impact the final piece, how the tint or shade of a color would impact its value, how the grid ratio would impact composition, and other design aspects.

The eighth grade art enrichment students will also have a Day of Art on March 11, which will have the eighth graders work on a different project. Last year's Day of Art in-house field trips had seventh grade students create paper masks and the eighth grade students explore self-portraits, according to Ms Coles.

Student Eliza Roth said she was enjoying working on the project, as she prepared her canvas, because she liked using materials she had never tried before.

Mackenzie Hughes was a number of students said they had never prepared their own canvas previously and added, "It is really fun." Fellow student Dante Verna said he had never worked with paint on a canvas before and observed, "It will probably be interesting."

Ms Coles said the completed portraits will be on view during the school's annual Celebration of the Arts, set for the evening of April 26 this year.