Who is Rachel Jones?

Rachel Jones is an artist who lives and works in London. Her artworks are made with oil sticks and pastels that she blends together in different ways. She uses an entire rainbow of colours! Rachel shared some of her journey to becoming an artist with students from Chisenhale Primary School, check out some of their questions below:

CP: "Why is your art so abstract?"

RJ : "It's abstract because sometimes, I think its hard to talk about things in clear pictures and if somethings abstract, it can be interpreted in lots of different ways"

CP: "What inspired you to do pictures of mouths?"

RJ: "You feel alot of different things in your mouth, and your mouth is a point in your body where things go into it, and things come out, and there's lots of different sensations in your mouth, and textures"

Watch the video and see if you have any questions too! Then why not try out the activity inspired by Rachel below.

Rachel explores colour, and how we connect it with feelings. For example, lots of people might say red reminds them of anger, or yellow is happy - but what do they feel like to you? A colour could be curious, frustrated or maybe something you can't even name!

The next time you make art, why don't you think about how you can use different colours to describe emotions in a way you haven't before? You could also put different combinations of colours together and see if they feel a particular way.

You'll need:

• Oil pastels or sticks
• Paper

Don't forget to send us your artwork!

“Everything has value: it can all be made into something special for you” - Rachel Jones

Watch this film with your class to introduce them to a practicing contemporary artist, and inspire them to make art of their own!

Throughout this film, you can find many exciting new ways for your students to develop their painting, drawing, and mark-making skills. By working with the prompts in this video, your class can learn how to record what they feel through colour and shape, creating intuitively with a wide range of possible materials. Rachel Jones uses bold, colourful oil pastels to express her emotions; how can you invite your class to do the same?