Boundless K-12 Curriculum: STORYTELLING

What are some ways that visual language can tell a story about a person?

3 sheets of paper vertically aligned with geometric shapes in abstract designs drawn with colored pencil. The top two sheets are longer than the bottom paper.
Mary Sully (Yankton Dakota, American, 1896-1963)

John Philip Sousa, n.d. Triptych, colored pencil and ink on paper
Courtesy of the Mary Sully Foundation 

Mary Sully maintained a consistent aesthetic throughout her career. Using only colored pencils and ink, she made what she called “personality portraits” to depict what she saw as a person’s definitive qualities. She used symbols and colors to draw attention to and suggest personal characteristics.

In this work, John Philip Sousa, Sully used three distinct styles: abstract on top, a repeating pattern in the middle, and a more ‘Indigenous-inspired’ design on the bottom. 

The top image in Sully's triptych.
The middle image in Sully's triptych.
The bottom image in Sully's triptych.
a photograph of John Philip Sousa

Who was John Philip Sousa?

The designs and colors Sully used in the personality portrait give clues to help us know more about John Philip Sousa.

Can you make out any familiar images in the artwork?

Hint: The top image shows an abstract representation of a sousaphone.

Listen below to John Philip Sousas’ most famous song for the U.S. Marine Band, “The Stars and Stripes Forever”:

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What images or designs would you use to create your personality portrait?

Learn More About Mary Sully
overlapping concentric circles made by ripples in water.

Boundless K-12 Curriculum

* YouTube links to audiovisual materials shared by other creators are included in the curriculum. For more information, including for captioning and transcripts of the suggested audiovisual materials, please contact the audio/video content creators.