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Portrait Mode: Self-reflections From Past, Present, and Future


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Chris and Bernard Marden Community Gallery
Student Exhibition 2025–2026

As the Norton Museum of Art hosts special exhibition Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time: Masterpieces from the Leiden Collection, we invite students to explore portraits and character studies by leading artists of 17th-century Netherlands. Featuring more than 70 works of art—including 17 by Rembrandt—this exhibition is a rare opportunity for students to tap into the artist’s remarkable ability to capture human expression and emotion. Moreover, these timeless treasures are great for examining the always-relevant theme of portraiture and comprehending its evolution over the centuries.

The Museum encourages students from Palm Beach County middle and high schools to submit original works of art inspired by the following theme:


Portrait Mode: Self-reflections From Past, Present, and Future

Students: depict who you are or choose an alternate place and time to reimagine yourself through an innovative approach to portraiture. Create a self-portrait that brings forth your character, interests, and emotions, considering one of the following approaches:

  • Nostalgic Portrayal
    Have you ever looked at an old family photo and wished you could have been there? Create a portrait that brings forth emotions associated with longing, comfort, remembrance, and familiarity with memories from the past.

  • Fictional Time Travel
    Be inspired by a historical era that resonates with you. Integrate your portrait into a moment in history, highlighting a time and a place that shaped the world as we know it.

  • Future Visions
    How do you think you might look or live in the future? Let the viewer have a glimpse of your future self through a work of art that illustrates the life you envision.

  • Here and Now
    Depict yourself within the present. Express your feelings and reflect your current state of mind through a self-portrait that feels like a “snapshot”—a direct interpretation of your identity.

  • Who or What
    Experiment with an object-portrait that incorporates objects that embody your aspirations and interests and convey your true essence.

Don’t forget to incorporate elements that will allow viewers to better “read” your self-portrait, such as (but not limited to):

  • Facial expression revealing preferred emotions and feelings

  • Pose communicating your personality or intention

  • Setting offering insights into the context of your portrait

  • Colors setting the tone and overall mood

  • Objects and symbols personifying you in a non-literal way

  • Scale communicating how you relate to the environment or composition

  • Artistic style and technique contributing to the portrait’s overall message and impact

Submission Guidelines

  • All mediums are welcome (paintings, photographs, mixed media collages, video, digital media, 3D works of art).

  • Up to five student artworks can be submitted per teacher, per school.

  • Norton staff will review and score all submissions to select fifty artworks for display in the Marden Community Gallery.

  • From the selected fifty, a jury committee will award three students with scholarship money. The selection will be informed by a defined scoring rubric.

  • Awards will be presented during the opening ceremony for the Marden Community Gallery Student Exhibition 2025–2026.

  • Video artwork will be scored more stringently due to limited availability of TV screens in the gallery.

  • Inclusion is not guaranteed.

  • The Norton Museum of Art reserves the right to reject any submissions deemed inappropriate for younger viewers or sensitive in subject matter.

Important Dates

  • Virtual workshop on exhibition theme: August 21, 2025, 4:30–5:30 p.m.

  • Submission deadline for teachers: November 21, 2025 (maximum 5 artworks per teacher)

  • Notification of selected artworks: Week of December 8, 2025

  • Teachers deliver artworks to Norton: Week of December 15, 2025

  • Exhibition opening and ceremony: January 10 & 11, 2026

  • Exhibition closing date: August 16, 2026

  • Teachers pick up student artworks: Week of August 17, 2026

Helpful Links

  1. The Elements of Portrayal (YouTube – National Portrait Gallery)

  2. Classroom resources on portraiture (National Portrait Gallery)

  3. Reading Portraiture: A Guide for Educators (Smithsonian Learning Lab)

  4. Introduction to Portraiture and Identity (PDF – NPG)

  5. Portrait Mode: Portraits Deconstructed (YouTube – NPG)

  6. The Leiden Collection

  7. National Portrait Gallery (UK) – Schools Hub