Year 7 Artwork Inspired by Kehinde Wiley and William Morris

Posted On: 05/01/21

Year 7 students have created stunning artwork inspired by Kehinde Wiley and William Morris for their natural form project. Wiley is known for his naturalistic paintings of African Americans, and Morris is chiefly known as a great designer of patterns derived from natural forms.

Milan Dhanjal has written about his work: “The background that I used in my work was a bright leafy pattern design by William Morris. I used acrylic paint to recreate his work. The pattern consisted of greens, blues, reds, and natural colours. Once the background was completed, I cut out a silhouette of myself on black paper and stuck it to the front of the design. This inspiration was taken from Kehinde Wiley, who paints people in front of vibrant backgrounds. I was pleased with my final piece.”

If you would like to create a similar piece, Ned Boggis has commented about the process: “We copied a William Morris floral artwork for our background using the Grid Method. Students in the class acted and photographed the poses from old master paintings. With the photo we drew around it to make a silhouette, which we put over the background we’d copied to make the finished artwork.  To use the Grid Method, draw a grid on the artwork or piece you want to copy (be careful to not damage your artwork), and the same on your paper. Using the grid as a finer reference to base the proportions and perspective on, draw the artwork onto your paper copying it as accurately as possible. Then, remove/erase the grid from your drawing so you are left with a near exact copy of the original artwork."