St John's College creative arts coordinator and year 12 visual arts teacher Kirk Watts said it is not surprising for their art students to produce such quality work, but this year's students have had a lot to overcome.

"We're really proud of the way they have pulled it all together," Mr Watts said.

"It's been some really difficult circumstances.

"It was surprising how well they finished, it was a difficult start for this group, beginning their HSC with a lockdown and ending it in a lockdown as well.

"A lot of the final parts were done at home with lots of support from the school, which was quite difficult to do.

"They would do some, take a photo and send it to me and then I would print it off, scribble feedback all over it, take another photo and then send it back to them.

"So, it was an unusual way to finish.

"The space to just be at home and focus on it as they needed to was good for them to I think."

The college has been sharing some of the work on its Facebook page as the annual exhibition is put on the backburner, but Mr Watts is adamant that at some point they will have an exhibition.

"Having them on Facebook is just to get them out there straight away so they can feel some sense of finalisation because there was a bit of an anti-climax when they handed them in," Mr Watts said.

"They had to book a time so it could be contactless and COVID-safe, so they showed up and left it on a table, whereas normally they would have that day together to finish and celebrate together.

"This was just to try to help them have something that would signify that something had happened.

"We do plan on having some sort of exhibition.

"I'm not sure how that will look, whether it will just happen later than usual when people are allowed to gather.

"If not, we will make some kind of online exhibition," he said.

Mr Watts said one positive of the lockdown, is that it has encouraged the students to be self-reflective.

"Maybe that comes from the way things are at the moment, maybe that comes from spending so much time by themselves and thinking about how things are going for them and maybe worrying a little bit about their future with how things are at the moment," he said.

"Maybe that's lead them to be a little bit more self-reflective. Maybe being in lockdown, they're keeping things a little bit closer to home."

Do you want more Dubbo and regional news? Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...