6 Matisse Inspired Art Projects
Collage Art Projects Inspired by Henri Matisse
This week I introduced my Primary school students to the creative mind of Henri Matisse. I actually really enjoyed reviewing his work, life, and story in preparation for teaching this week. I needed a good brush up and this was a great way to follow last weeks lessons on positive and negative shapes. Year groups 1 to 6 made artwork inspired by his famous pieces.
I made a Matisse Presentation for Key Stage 1 & 2 and shared examples of his original art that resembled the art project they were about to try.
I told them his story and shared useful information about him that they could use while creating. I was so unbelievably happy about how much they remembered about him and his work when I asked them the following week. So happy!
Is there anything greater than seeing how much someone has learned from your teaching? I don’t think there is.
Above is a super helpful Matisse Lesson Pack which includes the Presentation I started with. Here’s what we made this week:
Materials You'll Need:
A2 Tissue paper
A3 White paper & Assorted Colours of Construction Paper
A4 Assorted Colours of Paper
Year 1 | 5-6 yrs
Inspired by “The Snail”
Resources:
Snail Connect The Dots Activity Sheet (coming soon)
Matisse Lesson Pack (coming soon)
What To Do:
Cut the A3 paper into a square.
Present Henri Matisse and his work. I told them his story and introduced them to “The Snail" collage by Matisse.
Next, show them this video of the story book “When Pigasso Met Mootisse” on Youtube. It's a great video I used up to Year 3.
Prepare their tables while they watch the video with the poster paper and the coloured squares.
Have fun collaging an original snail, include a snail head and face.
Drying Time Activity for extra fun. Connect The Dots of a Snail that can be coloured in. Connect The Dots are great way for young children to practice their numbers and fine motor skills for drawing.
YEAR 2 | 6-7 yrs
Abstract Collage Panels
Resources:
What ToDo:
Year 2 and 3 also got to watch “When Pigasso Met Mootisse”
They recreated their own Matisse picture using his signature shapes of coloured paper.
Most of them just made their own shapes that had nothing to do with Matisse... But I guess that’s ok too, at least they explored their creativity while still learning about a new artist.
YEAR 3 | 7-8 yrs
Abstract Collage Pictures
What You’ll Need:
A5 Black paper
Coloured paper
What to do:
After the video, they made their own “Triangle Art” with coloured squares and black triangles. Most of them did whatever they wanted with the shapes. After this project was completed I gave them my Matisse Colour By Numbers activity sheet for the remaining minutes of class. My students really love these sheets! Sometimes they ask for art homework! (I know, I can’t believe it either)
YEAR 4 | 8-9 yrs
Inspired by“Creole Dancers”
What You’ll Need:
Coloured Construction paper
Black paper
Glue sticksScissors
They made Creole Dancers from construction paper. First we laid and glued our background in blocks. Next week we’ll make our dancer out of black paper and add details and clothes. It took them a while to understand that the background comes first.
YEAR 5 | 9-10 yrs
Notan Designs
What You’ll Need:
Coloured paper
Black Paper - TIP: the paper you’re making the designs from should be cut into a square
Glue Sticks
Scissors
Pencils
We played around with positive and negative again this week, but used paper to cut shapes and mirror the positive shape with the negative shape. Some could not grasp the concept of not cutting up the negative part of the paper. I guess they are so used to cutting out a shape and throwing out the rest. But when they got it. They got it!
YEAR 6 | 10-11 yrs
Name Posters
What You’ll Need:
A5 paper
Colour paper
Glue sticks
Scissors
They made name posters using signature Matisse shapes, plus their names in block letters. We kept the negative space from the cut outs to reuse them in the collage. Makes a really cool looking piece of artwork that they can put up on their lockers throughout the year!
And that’s it!
I can’t say all these projects ended up being successful, but the kids seem to have great fun getting stuck into collage projects. And I’m so proud that they learned a new artist and actually were able to remember his story! One thing I need to drill into their heads though, and these projects help with this, is the idea that a background always comes first, especially when collaging. They always seem to cut all their front pieces first before they’ve even laid a background despite my clear and repeated instruction.
