Welcome to a curated collection of my teaching exemplars, classroom projects, and personal creative explorations. This portfolio showcases the work I've developed to inspire, guide, and challenge my students. From educational design to artistic experimentation, each one representing creativity and learning.
Teaching & Creative Works Portfolio
Painting Sound – Exploring Emotion Through Kandinsky
In this expressive KS4 project, students explored the relationship between art, music, and emotion through the work of Wassily Kandinsky. Beginning with Kandinsky’s use of mark-making and his synaesthesia—the blending of senses—students studied how colour and shape can convey feeling.
Pupils were introduced to emotional colour theory and listened to a piece of orchestral music, responding by painting what they heard using colour, form, and expressive marks. This encouraged intuitive creativity and a deeper understanding of how sound can translate into visual language.
Building on this, each student selected a personal piece of music. They identified key emotions within the song and matched these to corresponding colours using the emotion-colour chart. These selected colours formed the foundation of their final compositions—abstract artworks that visually interpret their chosen music through Kandinsky-inspired techniques and their own personal expression.
“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.”
— Alberto Giacometti
A Journey into Surrealism
In this imaginative KS3 project, students explored the fascinating world of Surrealism—an art movement that challenges reality by blending the familiar with the fantastical. Beginning with the work of contemporary surrealist David Alabo, pupils discussed the meaning of surrealism and the concept of a dreamlike reality—where things appear real, but something feels intriguingly off.
Inspired by Alabo’s bold and otherworldly imagery, students created their own surreal compositions through mixed media collage and acrylic painting, experimenting with unusual juxtapositions and dream-inspired visuals.
The project then introduced students to metamorphosis through the surreal works of artist Hoekstra. Pupils developed their observational and tonal skills by designing and drawing a Metamorphosis Tonal Drawing, transforming one object seamlessly into another in a surreal, imaginative way.
For their final piece, students brought together their learning by designing a surreal landscape within an eye or mouth—a window into an imagined world inspired by artist Rene Magritte. They worked across a variety of media, including tonal pencil drawing, coloured pencils, watercolour, and acrylic, expressing their own unique visions through the lens of surrealism.
POP ART – Art, Identity & Consumer Culture
In this dynamic KS4 project, students explored the bold and vibrant world of Pop Art, focusing on its roots in consumer culture and mass media. Taking inspiration from iconic figures like Andy Warhol, students examined how everyday imagery—products, celebrities, and advertisements—became powerful symbols in art.
Alongside this, pupils were introduced to the work of contemporary artist David Galan, whose use of mixed media collage, mark making, shape, and pattern brings a fresh, expressive twist to the Pop Art aesthetic. Students explored how Galan’s layered compositions reflect modern identity, branding, and popular culture.
Throughout the project, students developed their own Pop-inspired works using a range of materials and techniques, combining collage, acrylic, ink, and bold graphic mark making. They investigated the language of consumerism—how imagery is designed to attract, persuade, and define identity—and how artists both celebrate and critique this in their work.
The final outcomes were bold and playful, yet thoughtful: layered mixed media artworks that fused personal ideas with Pop Art’s visual language. Each piece became a vibrant commentary on modern life—loud, layered, and uniquely expressive.
Pop Art & Consumer Culture
In this bold and expressive KS3/4 project, students explored the visual language of Pop Art through the lens of consumerism and mass production. Taking inspiration from iconic Pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, students examined how everyday items—like soft drink cans—can become symbols of culture, branding, and identity.
Students discussed the rise of consumer culture in the post-war era and how artists responded to it by celebrating (and critiquing) the repetition, glamour, and throwaway nature of modern products. The humble crushed can became the central motif—an object both ordinary and loaded with visual and cultural meaning.
Throughout the project, students experimented with a wide range of media, including tonal drawing, collage, stencilling, watercolour, ink, acrylic, and digital media. They practised techniques such as halftone dot work and bold comic-style linework, referencing the high-impact visuals of Lichtenstein and the branding repetition of Warhol.
For their final outcome, students created a mixed media artwork based on a crushed can of their choice, fusing Pop Art aesthetics with their own interpretations of pop culture. These expressive pieces highlight the ongoing conversation between art, advertising, and consumer identity—one can at a time.
Voices of Change – Exploring Protest Through Art
This powerful KS4 project invited students to explore protest art as a form of expression, activism, and social commentary. Through the study of influential artists such as Banksy, Bob and Roberta Smith, Shepard Fairey, Barbara Kruger, and activist group The Guerrilla Girls, students examined how art can challenge systems, raise awareness, and inspire change.
The project sparked rich and eye-opening discussions—for both students and teacher—on a wide range of important issues. Students selected their own protest themes, including topics such as animal protection, women’s rights, climate change, and Black Lives Matter, allowing for deeply personal and meaningful responses.
Throughout the project, students experimented with a range of techniques, including acrylic painting, collage, stencilling, digital design, tonal drawing, and grid drawing. These were used in both artist studies and practical responses, helping students understand how media and messages work together.
For their final piece, students created a mixed media protest poster, drawing inspiration from the visual language and strategies of the artists studied. Each poster became a bold visual statement—a fusion of powerful imagery, text, and personal conviction—giving students a platform to express their voices and advocate for change through the medium of art.
Exploring Personal Identity Through Art
This reflective KS3 project encouraged students to look inward and explore the theme of personal identity—who we are, where we come from, and what makes us unique. Through discussion and creative inquiry, students began by unpacking the concept of identity, answering a series of questions to help them think deeply about their values, interests, culture, and experiences.
To visualise this, each student created a personal Identity Tree, symbolising different aspects of their lives, from family and heritage to hobbies, memories, and aspirations. This became the foundation for a deeper exploration of the self through art.
Building on this, students designed and created identity boxes—collections of drawn or imagined objects that represented who they are. These were explored through a variety of media, including tonal pencil drawing, monoprinting, and other mixed media responses, encouraging both observational skill and expressive storytelling.
To conclude the project, students turned their focus outward again, exploring where they are from by creating detailed and illustrative artworks of their homes or meaningful places. Using watercolour and fine liner, they created layered, delicate images that captured a sense of belonging, memory, and place.
Each student’s body of work came together as a thoughtful celebration of individuality—honest, expressive, and deeply personal.
Exploring Water – Experimental Media & Abstraction
This creative exploration focused on developing recording skills through the theme of waves and water. Rather than aiming for direct, realistic copies, I was looking at the patterns, shapes, colours, and movement found in natural water forms in a more expressive and abstract way.
The work centred around mark making and textural experimentation, looking to observe and interpret water in a more intuitive style. A variety of materials and processes were explored, including oil pastel resist, watercolour layering, printmaking, and wet felting—each offering a different way to capture the fluidity and rhythm of water.