Visual Arts News

Dear Parents,

A portrait is a work of art that shows a person’s face. A self-portrait is an artwork the artist makes of themselves. Some portraits show the whole person.

A good portrait doesn’t just show what the sitter looks like. It will tell the audience something about the sitter’s personality, interests, thoughts and feelings.

In Visual Arts we explore portraiture in every year group. We look at shape, line, proportion, scale and details including the eyes, nose, mouth, ears and hair.

Each year students in Sydney Catholic Schools are encouraged to make a portrait of someone they know personally and who plays a significant role in their life. 

This year SFX submitted seventeen works into the 2026 SCS Portrait Prize. Congratulations to 

Year 5 students : Zoe E, Elise K,  Cora P, Ruhui T. and Valentina Z

Year 3 students : Allegra F, Amelia F, Jennifer K, Dimitra N, Emilia R, Sofia T and Xavier T, Year 1 student : Penny W

Kindergarten students Alessia C, Tao P, Leo P, and Luca R, 

These works will be available to view in a Virtual Exhibition on Artsteps from 9am Friday 12 December 2025.  Winners and honourable mentions will be released on Tuesday 10th February 2026 by Newsline and on the SCS Intranet site SCS Portrait Prize Intranet. Chosen works will be included in a live exhibition in May 2026.

Our Year 5 portraits and selected portraits by students from Kindergarten to Year 6 are currently on display in the main playground.

Ines B. wrote about her double portrait, My artwork is of me and my younger sister, Elena. I chose to make this portrait because my sister means so much to me. Whenever I see Elena she makes my day better. We always have so much fun playing games together. I dedicate this artwork to Elena and I love her so much.

Leonardo M. titled his work February 13th, 2015: Portrait Of Lovely Me.

I chose to make a self-portrait because I couldn’t decide on who else to do a portrait of. I included an abstract background that has my two favourite colours blue and green. This portrait reminds me that I am my own friend. It looks identical to me!

Montana C. also made a self portrait. For my artwork I chose to recreate a cute photo of me taken on my first birthday, a very exciting and special day for me. I loved this photograph because of the cuteness. I think I have done a great job in including details and selecting a good colour scheme. 

Aria S.’s Brother Love Brother Love is of my younger brother Jacob. I chose to draw Jacob because he means a lot to me and we have so much fun together. My brother and I always enjoy playing soccer, football and many other sports. Jacob always makes me smile and laugh. I dedicate this artwork to him. I love him so much. 

Samantha S.’s  Meowgical Moment is a portrait of my dad and my cat, Harvey, because my dad really likes my cat. My dad and my cat have a very good relationship. My dad talks to him all the time! I titled my artwork Meowgical Moment because my cat hates getting cuddled by any of us. Then, one day, my dad picked Harvey up and he started purring and dad was really happy. That moment made me really happy too!

If you think art is just paintings hanging on a gallery wall, you should get down to the Tank at the Art Gallery of NSW. Mike Hewson has created an underground, interactive playground in his installation The Key’s Under the Mat. It’s lots of fun and it’s free!