Ricky takes a bite out of art

Kaiser Chiefs’ frontman Ricky Wilson is to switch the microphone for a paintbrush in new CBBC show, Ricky Wilson’s Art Jam as part of the BBC’s Lockdown Learning.

Each episode sees the former art teacher invite a celebrity friend into his art studio to chat about their lives and art passions. Bringing with them three treasured objects, the celebrities will tell Ricky the stories and meaning behind them which he then uses as inspiration to create a stunning, bespoke piece of art just for them.

Famous faces joining Ricky for Ricky Wilson’s Art Jam include former Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle, Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw, YouTube Joe Sugg, TV presenter Kem Cetinay alongside a host of other athletes, social media stars and TV personalities.

Ricky will also take viewers around the UK on a tour of street art, museums and art galleries, highlighting some of the artists and creators that have inspired him. Ricky will also show his celebrity pals some of the amazing artwork CBBC viewers have sent in for the show.

Ricky said: “Art was my favourite subject at school and I’m excited to ‘don’ my Art Jam apron and create some artwork for my celebrity friends and of course show the CBBC viewers how simple it is to transform anything into a special and unique piece of art.”

Lockdown Learning returns on Monday 1 March and as its been announced that schools will start to open up again, Lockdown Learning will continue to support pupils, parents and teachers.

Joining the teaching rota for the new term is Joe Wicks who will teach about the Vikings and the Battle of Hastings, Mr Motivator teaching maths and TikTok Sea Shanty star Nathan Evans, who will teach mini lessons available on CBBC and Bitesize social media.

For World Book Day this year (Thursday 4 March), BBC Bitesize have created a special collection of videos to be broadcasted on CBBC with authors, Jacqueline Wilson and Dan Freedman chatting about the inspiration behind their novels, alongside singer Anne Marie and TikTok star, Lucy Edwards who will share their favourite books.

There will also be a live lesson for World Book Day hosted by CBBC’s Ben Shires and Bitesize Daily’s Mr Smith. The lesson will look about themes in stories and how to identify them and will include a live Q&A session with comedian and author of the Little Badman series, Humza Arshad.

Lockdown Learning is available on CBBC, BBC Two, BBC Bitesize, BBC iPlayer and the Red Button.