You will need
- Large sheets of paper (A2 or A3)
- Charcoal
- Paint
- Small mirrors (if available)
Rachel Jones
Be inspired by artist Rachel Jones and make an artwork that explores texture mark-making and abstraction
Explore the artwork
Rachel Jones
lick your teeth, they so clutch (2021)
Tate
Your students don’t need to know anything about an artwork or artist to start exploring it.
Use these quick group activities to build their confidence and curiosity in sharing their first responses to the artwork. Some artworks they might like straight away, some they might not.
Discovering art can be new, exciting and sometimes confusing. There are no right or wrong ways to respond!
In pairs or as a group, take it in turns to imagine the artworks answering these questions and telling their story.
- What are you made from?
- When were you made?
- What has happened here?
- Do you want me to feel sad or joyful, or something else?
- What else would you like to say?
In pairs or as a group, use your body to respond to the artwork.
- Mirror movements or shapes in the artwork
- Imagine sounds the artwork might make
- Trace the artwork in the air with your hands
- Move like the artwork
- What else could you do?
About the artwork
"Everything has value: it can all be made into something special for you"
Rachel Jones
lick your teeth, they so clutch 2021 is made with oil stick on canvas. Fiery reds collide with fleshy pinks and acid yellows, counterbalanced with the coolness of blues and greens to create an intense, textural surface. The ‘teeth’ in the title are only very loosely depicted as a series of large rectangular shapes, with a subtle allusion to gums or lips at the top of canvas.
Rachel Jones works in paint, performance, sound and installation to explore a sense of self as a visual, visceral experience. Her paintings are made using a kaleidoscopic palette, boldness of competing forms and interplay of textures. The figure is notably abstracted in her works.
Make
Rachel Jones prompts us to think about colour, shape and form through abstract expression. In this activity, use colour and texture to create your own artwork, experimenting with materials and expressive mark-making.
- Like Jones’s artwork, you will start with the body. Use a mirror or sit opposite a partner. Open your mouth as wide as possible and take a look inside. Imagine this interior view is 100 times bigger: it’s not a mouth anymore but an amazing landscape!
- Use charcoal to draw the inside of the mouth – make it big enough to fill the whole page. Think about the edge of the paper being the lips of your mouth. Draw quickly and boldly. Don't worry about being neat or making mistakes – just draw another version over the top if you need to.
- Look at your drawing with a partner. Share all the things it looks like other than a mouth!
Adapt
Use collage instead of paint.
Experiment with tearing and folding coloured paper, tissue paper and magazine pages to overlay colour and create different patterns and texture.
You can work on small sheets of paper that you can collate together or on a large collaborative piece all using the same surface.
4. Now use paint. Go vibrant, be experimental and use as many colours as you like. Play with the material. You might start by filling in shapes on your page, seeing how the paint runs together or how the charcoal lines start to smear and disappear. Think about ‘making with paint’ and enjoy the process.
5. When you have finished, talk again with your partner. Share your experiences and look really closely at your paintings. What has the paint done? Try and describe what you see, for example:
Where and how do your colours mix?
Are the colours transparent or opaque? Do they overlap?
What happened to the charcoal lines?
Is the paper bubbled or torn anywhere? How does this affect the painting?
6. At the end of your lesson, bring all of your paintings to the front of your classroom and look at them together. Find each other’s pieces and celebrate the artwork you’ve just made!
What have you learned by experimenting with ways to show the body?
What do the colours and shapes you’ve used represent to you?
Extend
When your paintings have dried invite your students to use crayons, oil pastels or collage to add more colour and texture. How would you describe what these paintings are ‘of’ now? Look at other abstract artworks together.
Go big. Really big! Take photos of the artworks and project them onto the white board as a way of exploring scale. Look at their work alongside Jones’s to think about how scale changes the experience of looking at art.
How to use art makes
Making art is a powerful way to learn new skills, explore ideas and express ourselves creatively. Encourage your students to discover new materials, techniques and methods inspired by great artists at Tate.
- Prepare
- Project the artwork in your classroom and/or print off copies for your students to have in front of them.
2. Explore (10 minutes)
- Invite your students to respond to the artwork through the group activity.
- Read the background information on the artwork and the artist.
3. Make (30 minutes)
- Follow the step-by-step instructions.
- Use the Adapt section for accessible alternatives to this activity.
- Use the Extend activity within the same lesson or in a future session.
