Art at Nexus

Showcasing Our Students' Artwork

With Claudia, our art teacher here at Nexus, students across all pathways have been exploring portraiture through a highly creative and sensory approach. Inspired by the vibrant work of Brianna McCarthy, students have used their own faces as a starting point, developing portraits that celebrate individuality through line, pattern, and colour. 

Students have experimented with shapes, scale, and the weight of line to create a variety of patterns, which are then used to transform their portraits into expressive, alternative representations. They have also explored monoprinting techniques using their own photographs and black ink, focusing on mark-making through directional lines, pressure, density, and variation in scale. 

Once their monoprints are complete, students create a simplified face shape and divide it into geometric sections, filling each area with their own Zentangle-inspired patterns—resulting in bold, personal artworks that reflect both technical exploration and individuality. 

For students on our more sensory pathways, this exploration has been enriched through hands-on experiences with a range of media layered over their own portrait photographs. Using watercolour, paint, palette knives, and templates, learners have created texture and depth, engaging with the tactile and visual qualities of materials in a way that supports sensory development and creative expression.