Authentic Art making in Y8: Using Text and Portraiture to Define Humanity

What Does It Mean to Be Human?

Today, our Y8 students at XP School explored this guiding question in the most powerful, creative and authentic way — alongside the incredible Michelle Clarke-Stables.

Working shoulder-to-shoulder with Michelle, students created a legacy artwork that will live on in our school: a large-scale micrography portrait of Frida Kahlo, built entirely from handwritten words, reflections and quotes that answer our guiding question.

Every mark is a voice.

Every layer is a story.

Every word speaks to the messy, beautiful, painful and resilient nature of being human.

Frida Kahlo feels like the perfect muse for this work. Her life was shaped by courage, compassion and fierce tenacity — choosing colour in the face of pain, truth in the face of silence, and creativity in the face of adversity. She epitomises what we hope our students discover: that being human is about resilience, tenderness, and the bravery to tell your story.

Watching students collaborate, debate, write, paint and truly see one another was extraordinary. Michelle brought out the best of them — their empathy, their curiosity, their willingness to be bold with ideas and generous with meaning.

This is what authentic Art education looks like.

This is legacy work.

This is XP. 💙

Thank you, Michelle, for inspiring our students to make something deeply human, and deeply unforgettable.

#ArtEducation #XPTrust #ProjectBasedLearning #FridaKahlo #BeingHuman #LegacyWork #Creativity #Compassion #StudentVoice #MichelleClarkeStables

Creating Beautiful Work

Beautiful work and amazing products are an integral part of our story at XP but equally important are the ways that we achieve that work and those products.

Our students are encouraged to draft and redraft, to refine their ideas, to not accept work that isn’t excellent. In the Arts team this year we’ve seen exactly that with students starting new courses and new expeditions and being given new opportunities to excel.

None of the pictures above show finished products, instead we can see the beauty of the creative process. For some that means painstakingly drafting and redrafting photoreal images using only pencils. For others it may be that a session sharing ideas on the whiteboard is the best way to make progress. Creating models and maquettes in a range of materials can be the catalyst that a student needs to make their creative vision into a beautiful final product. What looks at first glance to be a random collection of scraps can be actually a carefully curated abstract vision. A messy workbench will finally reveal a beautiful relief sculpture.

We celebrate our students creative work not only for the final curation but for the whole process of exploration, experimentation, and growth that leads them there — the ideas tried, the risks taken, and the skills developed along the way.

Year 8 Inspired by Artist Michelle Clarke Stables

This week, Year 8 students at XP were given an exciting opportunity to immerse themselves in their new expedition with a visit from professional artist Michelle Clarke Stables (MC Stables).

Michelle worked with all Year 8 groups, bringing energy, expertise, and a fresh perspective on what it means to live and work as an artist. She inspired students by sharing her personal journey and creative story, showing that art is not just about making something beautiful—it’s about expressing the human experience.

One of the highlights of the day was when Michelle introduced her original artwork and a powerful sculpture titled Entrapment. This piece explores themes of fear, anxiety, and the barriers we sometimes create for ourselves, sparking deep conversations among students about how art can communicate emotion and connect with audiences in powerful ways.

Students also had the rare chance to closely examine Michelle’s original pieces. This hands-on immersion gave them valuable insight into materials, processes, and the layered thinking that goes into creating professional artwork.

The workshops challenged Year 8 to explore expressive mark-making, colour, and words in new ways—laying a strong foundation for their expedition learning. By experiencing art firsthand, students began to see how creativity can give voice to complex ideas, emotions, and stories.

Michelle’s visit has raised the profile of Art across the school, showing students that the subject is not only about developing skills, but also about asking questions, telling stories, and making meaning. She has kindly donated, on loan, some of her pieces to be exhibited within the XP and XPE community which will enrich the arts experience for the whole school; its staff, students, parents and our visitors. 

The buzz in classrooms following her sessions has been undeniable, and it’s clear her visit will leave a lasting impression on our budding artists.

“Michelle inspired our artwork in class. I enjoyed that we were able to express ourselves freely through the marks we made. I think it’s good to have authentic artwork around the school. I added XPs Character traits to my own work.” – Jensen E31

What a wonderful start to the year with C31. I’m looking forward to seeing how their work progresses!

Mrs Hudson

C25 Last chance to collect GCSE artwork

We are currently holding GCSE Art coursework from students who left us in the Summer term of 2023. As part of our preparations for the new academic year we’ll be disposing of this work if it’s unwanted. If you would like to take your sketchbooks and final pieces from the coursework or exam projects then please get in touch with us before the end of next week, Friday June 28th.

You can contact school or anyone in the Arts team and we’ll set your work to one side. You can come to collect it at anytime, please just let us know beforehand so we can get it into the office for you to collect.