Art Adventure: Matisse

Grr Blogger! I had this scheduled to post this morning and it didn't for whatever reason. I was actually on top of this one! Anyway.

Today's art adventure is one that I was able to share with my son's second grade class. It was so much fun!

Henri Matisse was a French Post-Impressionist painter. He is know for his bold use of color. When he exhibited in 1905 with a group of artists that all used bold color, they were labeled the Fauves which means "wild beasts."

Matisse got a late start in art. In fact, he went to school to study law and became a law clerk. But, during a long recovery from apendicitis, his mom gave him a paint box and that changed everything. At 21, Matisse enrolled in art school where he was told by an art teacher he couldn't draw! But he went on to become a famous artist because he didn't give up.

Toward the end of his life, he could no longer paint and began making collages, still with bold colors and he called this "painting with scissors."

So, today we will make our own collage with bright color and bold pattern. Our inspiration is "Interior with flowers and parrot."

Matisse Interior

Supplies:

• construction paper (3 colors)
• plain paper to build collage on
• scissors
• glue stick
• markers
• scrap papers or old magazines

First, use markers to draw patterns on each of the papers. Make each paper different.

Cut on of your pattern papers in half (or a little more than half if you prefer) and glue it to the plain paper. Then fit a second paper in the remaining half of picture and glue down.

Those are the two walls, and now we need a floor. Lay the third paper so that it overlaps the bottom by two to four inches.

Take a marker and starting at the point where the two walls meet, draw a diagonal line to one corner of the collage paper. Repeat drawing a diagonal to the other corner.

Cut the paper and you have a shallow triangle. Glue in place being sure the point is matched up to where the two walls come together.

Now you have a flattened 3D space, like Matisse.

Just another example.

The next step is to fill up your room. Will it have a pet? Plants? A window? Favorite toys? You can draw them on scraps of paper and glue them on, or you can even cut out things you like from a magazine or catalog.

And that's all there is to it. When I led the class in this project, the kids excitedly exclaimed, "It looks like 3D!" when I showed them how to add the floor triangle. :)

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