Year 9 students in Miss Cole’s class immersed themselves in creating are inspired by Black History Month.  Students studied the works of Kehinde Wiley, a Nigerian-American portrait painter based in New York City, who is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of black people. He was commissioned in 2017 to paint a portrait of former President Barack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, which has portraits of all the US presidents.

Students then used some of his methods to create their own portraits of prominent black people including Idris Elba, Naomi Campbell and Martin Luther King. The students were engaged and enjoyed working with different materials including carbon paper to create their work.  The lesson was an excellent way to pay tribute to the artist in such an important month!