Although every parent loves the annual school portrait taken of their child, artistically, not much can be said about the photo's diversity from year to year, or from child to child. Sure, one can order a softened halo around the edge or even a laser effect shooting distractingly around in the background, but basically, one portrait is similar to another. A slight smile might give everyone an inkling that a child is shy, and a pair of devilish eyes might indicate a potentially spunky personality. Yet what can one really tell about someone from a school photo? In this article, the author describes an art activity wherein she asked her students to create a self-portrait collage using artist Audrey Flack's 1977 painting, entitled "Marilyn (Vanitas)", as inspiration. The results were surprisingly sophisticated. Most of the collages demonstrated good compositional technique and reflected the creative spirit and diverse interests of the students. (Contains 1 online resource.)