Willard alum draws portraits of entire Willard class of 2020

Willard High School students and faculty were treated to a special surprise when they walked in on the morning of Thursday, Aug. 27. A collection of over 200 face portraits, comprising the entire Class of 2020 at Willard High School, was on display in the art hallway. The art project was the work of Isabel Duff, a recent Willard High School graduate who is now attending classes at the Kansas City Art Institute.
Duff said she drew inspiration for the project from a number of sources, starting with a collection of drawings she viewed a few years ago.
“It was this very long scroll that stretched across the entire room,” she said. “There had to have been hundreds of portraits drawn on it. I can’t remember the exact dates or who the artist was sadly, all I know was that it was made a very long time ago and it was absolutely amazing. I was blown away by the sheer amount of individual people that this person had studied. The portraits were rather small but there was still a great amount of skill and time that went into making this.”
Beginning the big project
Around October of 2019, Duff said, she decided she wanted to make a project that would recognize people that are usually taken for granted.
“I wanted to do something for my community and I wanted to honor individuals that don’t always get the recognition that they deserve,” she said. “People that I saw on a regular basis that had been indirectly and directly involved with my life. I believe that we are all connected in that way. The mailman and the cashier, students you sit by but never speak to, strangers. They don’t seem all that important at first encounter but we are all living in the same world, breathing the same air, walking the same ground. Because of these things, our emotions and our actions all connect. I wanted to convey that sense of connectivity on a large scale.”
Duff began with one drawing, her best friend. From there, she continued to draw the portraits of other members of her senior class, until they were all complete.
“I just kept drawing more people, until one day, I realized that I had committed myself to this,” she said. “The snow ball was rolling too fast to stop it, so I embraced the challenge. I calculated that it would take me two portraits a day. And that each portrait took anywhere from one hour to two hours, depending on size, detail, and my own distractions. Some days it was easy to accomplish this. Other days it wasn’t.”
Eventually, all the pictures were drawn. But Duff wasn’t finished yet.
“I had a binder of my peers faces sitting on my floor for four months,” she said. “I felt creepy and annoyed. I had to get them out of my room. So, a couple weeks before my move in date for college I collected a bunch of old doors that were sitting in my garage and I started taping the portraits up bulletin board style.”
Duff described the way the pictures were arranged as “messy and sporadic,” with a number of gaps between them.
“I decided to embrace the messiness,” she said. “I got out some blue and white paint and painted the edges and the gaps in large gestural strokes.”
The night before she left for college, Duff took the doors to the high school with the help of her father and her best friend, where they set them up in the art hallway. The next day, she left for Kansas City, accompanied by her parents.
‘Messy and imperfect’ final product
While Duff is very proud of her project, she also described it as “a mess.”
“I could pretend that it was this romantic, life changing experience but that would be a lie,” she said. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished but it wasn’t really for me. I look back it all and I think that it represents my time in high school perfectly. Messy and imperfect. Large and lively. Little details making up collective wholes.”
Duff’s greatest hope in the project, though, is that it will benefit the students and faculty of Willard High School. She says it is theirs, now.
“I hope that the people it belongs to get something out of it,” she said. “My old school, and my peers, and my teachers. It’s their project really. They are the makers.”
Student response
Teresa Duncan, Duff’s art teacher at WHS, said many of the people who viewed the portraits are taken in by their quality.
“Students and teachers are amazed at the likeness to the seniors,” she said. “It has been a cathartic experience for all of to see those 2020 senior faces back in our hallways.”
Duncan also said the project will be preserved and put on display.
“We are seeking a protective covering that will be adhered to the work to preserve it,” she said. “It will go on display at the high school for all to enjoy. Dr. Matt Teeter, superintendent, wants it to be on display at the District Office for a month.”
Duncan added that the school board will honor Duff at a meeting when she is back in town.
As for Duff, she says she continues with her studies while contemplating what her future career will look like.
“I have no idea what the future holds for me,” she said. “I might major in filmmaking or painting and minor in creative writing. I might choose something entirely different. Who knows? So long as I get to create, I’ll always be happy.”