Painting with scissors like Matisse

made by students of grade 4

You need per student:

1. 1 sheet white drawing paper
2. 1 sheet colored construction paper 
3. 1 sheet colored construction paper from which you cut 7 cm 
4. 1 sheet blue construction paper 
5. leftovers of colored paper
6. glue
7. scissors
8. black marker

Who is Matisse?

Matisse (1869 –1954) was a French artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was primarily known as a painter.

Matisse didn't care if stones were blue, he just chose the colors he liked. Some people thought is art was very ugly: someone who paints blue faces and green noses is a fool and Matisse was called 'Fauve', which means: wild. This is how the word Fauvism came into being for this art movement, art with bold colors. 

After a surgery Matisse spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He wasn't able to paint anymore, but could still paint with his scissors.

View various artworks of Matisse. 

Then few the artwork Oasis. What stands out? 

• no straigh lines 
• organic shapes
• bright colors
• What is an oasis and why is this artwork called so?  

How to make it 

Step 1

Take the two colored sheets: a whole one and one with 7 cm cut off. Paste the smaller sheet on the large one. The strip at the bottom is the table for the fishbowl. 

Step 2

Cut Matisse shapes and glue them on the small sheet. Let them fall of the sheet and cut away the outer pieces.

Step 3

Fold a white sheet in half on the long side and cut out a fishbowl. The center line of the bowl is the fold of the sheet. Trace around the bowl with a thick black marker.   

Step 4

Cut 'water' out of the blue sheet, slightly smaller than the bowl. Paste it in the bowl. Paste the bowl on the colored sheet with organic shapes. 

Step 5

Cut two or three fishes and some water plants and paste them in the bowl.

Elements of art: shape, color. 

Fun flowers

 

You need:

1. white or colored drawing sheet
2. scraps of colored paper 
3. scissors
4. glue
5. black markers

Cut several circles from scraps of colored paper and paste them om the drawing sheet. Paste smaller circles on the bigger ones. Draw petals using several black markers in several thicknesses.   

Source: Krokotak.com

Stained glas animals

 

made by students of grade 5

You need:

1. black construction paper 
2. wax paper in several colors
3. white pencil
4. ruler
5. cutting mat 
6. cutting knife
7. glue

A stained glass window is a window in which several pieces of (mostly colored) glass are stuck in frames of lead. Stained-glass windows were made in times when it wasn't possible yet to make a window in one piece. We see those stained glass windows in old houses, but especially in churches. The light from outside enters in multiple colors into the church. 

View stained glass windows and tel about their origin and the effect of the colored light.  

Use a white pencil to draw an animal on the black sheet. Draw at least three lines from the animal to all edges of the sheet. Divide the animal into some surfaces. 
Make all lines 1 cm wide. Hatch the surfaces between the 1 cm lines with the white pencil.
Cut the white area's. When ready, use the black sheet as a template to draw the pieces of wax paper. Cut them out with an extra 0,5 cm and stick them behind the window. Make sure that there are no two same colors next to each other. 

Elements of art: line, shape, color. 
Technique: cutting.
Connecting with: history. 

3D winter or Christmas scene

made by students of grade 5/6

You need: 

1. white cardboard 21 by 21 cm
2. colored glace paper 14,5 by 14,5 cm
3. cutting knife 
4. cutting mat
5. glue

Too difficult or not enough time? Skip step 1 and 2. 

Step 1
Draw a square at 2 cm from the edges, this is the outside of the frame. 

Step 2
Draw in this square another square at 3 cm of the edges: this is the front of the frame.  

Step 3
Draw in the 15 by 15 cm square a simple winter or Christmas scene.  Make the lines 1 cm wide and make sure they are on 4 sides attached to the 1 cm wide frame. See pattern below. 

Step 4
Color the parts you have to cut out grey.  

Step 5
Cut out the grey parts. 

Step 6
Cut the corners diagonally, see pattern. 

Step 7
Fold the lines of the 15 by 15 square. 

Step 8
Stick the corners.

Step 9

Stick the glace paper in the frame. 

Elements of art: line, form, space.

 

Still life with fruit

door leerlingen van groep 5

You need:

1. corrugated cardboard
2. scissors
3. white drawing sheet
4. tempera paint
5. brush
6. glue
7. colored construction paper

Vies and discuss still lifes of fruit in different styles (for example Caravaggio and Cezanne). How is the fruit arranged? Why at that way? Which parts are light and which parts are dark? What does that mean? 

Provide each group of students with a bowl of different fruit types. Students paint the fruits (no drawing first!) after a good observation. 

Cut a fruit bowl out of the cardboard. Cut out the fruits with a small white edge. Stick the fruits on a colored sheet, be sure to let them overlap each other. Stick the cardboard bowl. Some fruits will partly disappear in it. 

Elements of art: space, color, value. 

Pumpkin, like Burton Morris

 You need:

1. several colors construction paper
2. black cardboard 20 by 20 cm
3. colored cardboard 20 by 20 cm
4. scissors
5. glue
6. black marker

Burton Morris (Pittsburgh, 1964) is an American pop-art artist. He is influenced by pop-art artists from the 60's and 70's, like Warhol, Lichtenstein and Haring. Now he is one of the most famous modern post pop-art artist. Morris's work shows a contemporary twist to traditional pop-art. His work is cheerful, energetic and colourful. His characteristic lines with the bright colors give his work a fantastic energy. Morris's work is known of tv-series like Friends and also appears in major advertising campaigns by U.S. companies like AT & T, Pepsi and Heinz. 

To see a step by step description with photos', see my other post about Burton Morris. 

And read the mail I got from Burton Morris when he came across my lesson of 2011: 

Dear Jacquelin,

I came across your blog and saw your student's artworks. I am truly touched that you honored my artwork in your teaching lessons and hope it was a success and inspired the children! 

I hope to show again in the Netherlands one day and feel free to keep in touch.

Your friend,
Burton Morris

The birds of George Braque lesson 2

artworks are made by students of grade 4

This is lesson 2 about George Braque. First lesson: click here.  

You need:

1. blue construction paper 
2. colored paper
3. scissors
4. glue

George Braque (1882-1962) was a French painter and sculptor. Together with Picasso he was founder of cubism.
After is cubist time, Braque painted simplified figurative paintings of landscapes and still lifes with musical instruments and bottles. Remarkable are the letters and nummers Braque added to his works.
When Braque became ill, he was no longer able to paint. He turned to making color litographs of simple bird silhouettes. The same birds you that can also be seen in one of the ceiling paintings of the Louvre in Paris.

Look at the artwork Les oiseaux of George Braque.  

• simple shapes (silhouet)
• white outlines
• blue background
• geometrical shapes: stars and moon 

What do you have to do: 
Draw at least three silhouettes of birds on colored paper. Cut them. Cut geometrical shapes out of paper scraps. Paste everything on the blue sheet.  

Elements of art: shape, space.

Techniques: drawing, making a collage, cut and glue 

The flowers of Andy Warhol

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size


2. brushes


3. tempera paint


4. scraps of colored paper


5. scissors 


6. glue

Andy Warhol - popart
Andy Warhol (1928-1897) was an American painter, photographer and filmaker. He started his working life as an advertising artist and became an artist in the early 1960's. He introduced everyday consumer products into his artwork, such as Campbell's soup cans and Coco Cola bottles. 

Warhol is one of the leading artists of Pop art. 

Using printing techniques he created large series of works of Marilyn Monroe or political themes such as the electric chair. Warhol used photographs of others to edit.

The Flowers series clearly show how Warhol applied the silkscreen printing technique. We see the flowers of the rare Hibiscus fragilus.  

The Flowers series are also seen as Warhol's answer toe Van Gogh's famous paintings of sunflowers and Claude Monet's artworks of water lilies. 

Stamp green and yellow tempera on a black sheet of paper leaving about one inch of the edges black. Let dry. 

Cut at least four flowers with five petals from scraps of colored paper. Do not draw in first, but cut by hand. Stick the flowers on the black sheet. No overlap. 


Elements of art: shape, color

Zebra

You need:

1. drawing sheet A3 size 


2. drawing sheet A3 size


3. tea


4. glue


5. sand


6. brush


7. charcoal


8. wool in black and white


9. scissors

After reading The zebra who ran too fast fro Jenni Desmond we did this lesson. 

Dillute glue with a cup of strong tea and add some sand. Paint the large sheet with this. Color and texture will emphasize the natural habitat of the zebra. 

Fold the other two sheets in half and cut a neck and head (oval). 

Use charcoal to draw vertical lines on the head and horizontal lines on the body. Cut ears and draw lines on them. Cut pieces of white and black wire and paste them. 

Elements of ard: line, shape and texture.
Techniques: cut and glue, draw with charcoal

Where Keith Haring meets Piet Mondriaan

You need:

1. drawing sheet A2 size


2. black strips 1,5 cm wide


3. colored construction paper in red, yellow and blue


4. ruler


5. scissors


6. glue


7. black marker

This is a teamwork lesson for two students. 

Draw squares and rectangles of various sizes on the colored paper. Make sure they are straight: start from a right angle and measure carefully. Cut the squares and rectangles and spread them on the white sheet.  Make sure same colors do not touch each other and stick them. 

Continue with the black strips. Decide by yourself how many strips and where you want them, but there are four requirements:

• the strips must be sticked straight! (use your ruler)


• black strips must be sticked around all colored area's


• use the black strips to create white area's (squares and rectangles) 


• don't use to much glue. Let some strips stay loose so you can put a Haring figure behind it

Draw three or more Keith Haring  characters on the colored paper. Cut them and paste them on the Mondriaan sheet. Be sure there is no yellow character on a yellow area. 

Outline the characters with a black marker and draw some 'move stripes' around them.

In the style of Burton Morris

You need:

1. several colours construction paper


2. black cardboard 20 by 20 cm


3. coloured cardboard 20 by 20 cm


4. scissors


5. glue


6. black thick marker

During our USA trip in the summer of 2009, I visited in the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, There I saw the artwork of Burton Morris for the first time: five paintings of cola bottles in pop-art style surrounded by light blue bubbles. So beautiful! Now I found a way to do this in school. And I think I'm the first blogger with a Morris lesson!

Burton Morris (Pittsburgh, 1964) is an American pop-art artist. He is influenced by pop-art artists from the 60's and 70's, like Warhol, Lichtenstein and Haring. Now he is one of the most famous modern post pop-art artist. Morris's work shows a contemporary twist to traditional pop-art. His work is cheerful, energetic and colourful. His characteristic lines with the bright colours give his work a fantastic energy. Morris's work is known of tv-series like Friends and also appears in major advertising campaigns by U.S. companies like AT & T, Pepsi and Heinz.

Source: www.burtonmorris.com

Show artwork of Morris on the digital board. Discuss the features: bright colours, black outlines, little detail, movement by little lines, white lines that suggest light and the distinctive black star shape around or in much of his work.

Students are going to make an artwork in the style of Burton Morris with the subject: Valentine's Day.

Step 1. Take two colours cardboard: black for the edge and one colour for the background. take a construction paper for the big heart.

Step 2. Cut the edges of the background cardboard sloping away, to make a sort of rug. You have to cut at least 1 cm around.

Step 3. Cut a large heart from the second coloured cardboard. Cut white 'light lines' from a white sheet for on and around the big heart.

Step 4. Cut some smaller hearts from several colours of construction paper. Cut white 'light lines' and paste them on the little hearts; all on the same side.

Step 5. Paste the big heart on the coloured cardboard. Paste the light lines on the heart and around it.

Step 6. Cut long triangles from the sides of the rug, the 'flashy stripes'. Paste the rug on the black cardboard.

Step 7. Paste the small hearts around the big heart; you may k de kleine hartjes rondom het grote hart, where you can go over the triangles. Outline the small hearts with a black marker.

Step 8. Cut the black background away, leaving about 2 mm on the edges.

Step 9. Paste the work on a coloured sheet (A4 size) and cut it into a square.

Made by students of grade 4 and 5

Son of Man - Like Magritte

You need:

1. white drawings sheets A3 size


2. white and blue tempera paint 


3. paper with stone print


4. white round paper


5. camera


6. bowler hat and black coat 


7. brushes


8. small dishes


9. sponges

René Magritte

Rene Magritte is born in 1898 in Belgium. When Magritte is 13 years old, his mother commits suicide. She jumps in the river Samber and is found with her dress covering her face. This image has been suggested as the source of several paintings from Magritte: people hiding their faces with several objects.

In 1924 Magritte became friends with members of a surrealism group in Brussels: André Breton, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí. These artists influence Magritte's work. In the end Magritte became famous with surrealistic paintings.

Magritte gave his paintings a realistic effect of surrealism. He painted simple objects, like a shoe, an apple, a pipe or a tree. Magritte took these things out of their ordinary environment and placed them in a special surrounding.

One of Magritte's most famous works is "La Trahison des Images" (The Treachery of Images). This is a very realistic painting from a pipe, with the text: Ceci n'est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe). The painting is not a pipe, but rather an image of a pipe. As Magritte himself commented: "The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture 'This is a pipe,' I'd have been lying!"

By putting us constantly on the wrong track, Magritte forces us to think about art. Magritte thought it the task of an artist to place reality in a different context.



Look at the artwork

Discuss the painting The son of man. What do you see? What does the man wear? What's on his head? Why can he see little? Can he see nothing of can he peek at the edge of the apple? What's wrong with his left arm? (his arm appears to bend backwards at the elbow). What do you see at the background? What does the sky look like?



How do you make this artwork?

Take photographs of the students wearing a bowler hat and a dark coat; arms hanging beside the body. Students paint their sheet blue and let it dry. Cut a wall out of stoneprint paper and stick it on the blue sky. Stamp white spots on the artwork using a sponge. Let dry againg. Cut the photo neatly along the edges and paste it on the blue sheet in front of the stoneprint paper. Draw a piece of fruit on the circle sheet and show color transitions, just like real fruit. Paste it on the face.

Both artworks are made by students of grade 1

The fall of Icarus - like Matisse

You need:

1. dark blue construction paper


2. black construction paper


3. leftovers of construction paper in several colors


4. scissors


5. glue

In this lesson students cut a performance out of paper just like Matisse did with his work: The fall of Icarus. 

Matisse (1969-1954) was a French sculptor and painter. He is seen as the founder of fauvism. In his last years of life Matisse wasn't able to paint anymore. A pair of scissors was the tool he used to transform painted papers (painted by assistants) into a world of plants, animals, shapes and figures. 

One of these cut-outs is the artwork Icarus (1947). 

Read the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. 

Then look at the original artwerk Icarus.

What do you see? At what time of day were  Daedalus and Icarus flying and how can you see that? (at night - dark blue paper, stars). What do you notice about the body of Icarus?  (limbs have different thicknesses) What can you deduce from that? (no drawing in advance but cut out of the hand) What could be the red dot? (heart)  How do you know Icarus is falling? (arms spread, head not straight on the body) Can you see that Icarus is falling into the see? (no) What else could he fall in?



Task

The real Icarus fell into the sea, but our Icarus falls into something else ... and you  decide for yourself into what! Trees? A city? On a church?

Cut a falling human out of black construction paper.  You're not allowed to make a drawing in advance, just cut 'out of the hand'. If the first time fails, you take a new black sheet. Cut some stars. Cut a surface: in what is Icarus falling?  Place the loose parts on a blue sheet and stick all of them.

All artworks made by students of grade 3. 

Colourful Christmas trees

You need:

1. two drawing sheets A4 size


2. watercolour paint


3. brushes


4. jar with water


5. tissue paper


6. scissors


7. glue


8. ruler


9. pencil


10. gold or silver marker


11. white correction marker


12. glitter

Paint a background for the Christmas trees with water paint. Use different colours and let them blend into each other. Use plenty of water for nice bright colours.

Choose three colours of tissue paper. Fold the sheets several times and cut triangles and squares. Take a sheet of drawing paper and make it wet with a brush and water. Lay the pieces of tissue paper on this wet sheet. If the tissue paper is not wet enough, it won't bleed. Then make it wet again with a brush with water. Fill the sheet with these tissue paper parts and leave it to dry. Remove the pieces of tissue paper from the sheet when it is completely dry. The sheet will look like this:

Cut long triangles from the sheet that was coloured with tissue paper. You may use the schedule above (based on A4 size sheet of 21 by 29 cm - half cm will remain on both sides then). You can cut a piece from the bottom of the triangles if you want trees of various heights.

Paste these three trees with overlap on the water paint background. Don't paste the trees all at the same height, so you get depth. Cut some smaller triangles from the left overs if you want more trees.

Outline the trees with silver or gold marker. Draw a simple branch structure. Draw the strains with brown pencil or use the metallic pins. Draw snowflakes around and on the trees with a white (correction) marker or use chips from the punch. rond en op de bomen. Paste the artwork on a coloured background. Sprinkle some glitter on the forest floor.

All artwork is made by students of 11-12 years old

Tea light holder The Style

Made by a student of grade 4

You need:

1. black construction paper  41 by 12 cm 


2. wax paper in red, blue and yellow


3. cutting mat and cutter


4. glue

Tell students about art the movement The Style and two of its most famous contributors Piet Mondriaan and Theo van Doesburg. 

Draw 4 lines with 10 cm between them from bottom to the top of the black sheet. The last strip (1 cm) is the glue strip. 

Draw four squares or rectangles on the black sheet. Then draw lines from about 1 cm wide. Cut the spaces between the lines and paste wax paper behind them. 

Finish the lantern by folding the four lines and pasting it. 

Mondriaan collage with printed lines

You need:

1. paper in primary colours


2. white sheet A3 size 


3. pieces of cardboard 


4. black tempera paint


5. saucer


6. ruler 


7. pencil 


8. scissors 

Just like Piet Mondriaan (De Stijl), students draw rectangles and squares using ruler and pencil on construction paper in yellow, blue and red.  After this the drawings have to be cut and pasted on a white sheet. However Mondriaan did not: students may stick colours together.  

Stamp straight lines using a piece of ribbed cardboard and black tempera paint. 

Made by a student of grade 3 

Source: http://artroom104.blogspot.nl/ 

Mondriaan: from 2D into 3D

You need:

1. white construction paper  A4 size


2. ruler


3. pencil


4. colored construction paper in yellow, blue and red


5. black marker


6. cutting mat and cutter 


7. glue

Show artworks of Piet Mondriaan and De Stijl and discuss them.



Fold the white sheet in 5 columns. The columns don't have the be the same width. Divide the sheet with pencil and ruler in three rows (thin, the lines have to be erased later).

Cut rectangle and squares out of colored paper. Make sure they are not wider as the columns. Paste  the rectangles and squares between the folded lines and outline them using a ruler and a black marker. Connect each one with its 'neighbour' with a marker. The lines should be horizontal or vertical.



Then cut two horizontal lines from the start of column 2 towards the end of column 4 (see picture).

Mondriaan cube

You need:

1. white cardboard


2. ruler


3. pencil


4. cutting mat and knife


5. markers


6. glue

After a lesson about the work of Piet Mondriaan, students draw a template of a cube (nice goal for the math lesson!). The surfaces are 8 by 8 cm, the stick edges are 1 cm.

Cut the template with a cutting knife. Use a black fine marker to draw squares at 1/2-1 cm from the edges. Within these squares you draw straight lines to get some rectangles and squares. Color these using Mondriaan colors: red, yellow and blue. Leave some surfaces white.

Fold the stick edges and paste them to get the Mondriaan cube!

Olympic athletes

You need:

1. scissors


2. glue


3. white drawing paper A1 size


4. cardboard in Olympic colors


5. compasses
   

Start this lesson with the symbol of the Olympics: the colored rings. What do these rings mean? What colors do they have? How are they placed together?

Ask one or two children to take the position of an athlete. What is the position of the legs, arms and body? Ask another student to show another position and discuss it again.

This is a group work for five students. Every group gets a big white sheet, five sheets of colored cardboard (in the colors of the rings: black, yellow, red, blue and green) and at least five copies of the athlete.

Step one:
each group member cuts an Olympic ring, using compasses and scissors. Paste this five rings on the big white sheet. Look carefully which ring has to be pasted in front or back, and which ones have to be pasted through each other. Be sure the little cutting line is pasted underneath another ring.



  Step two:

Every student takes a copy of the body and cuts every part of it. Then these bodyparts have to be pasted around, in, behind and in front of the Olympic rings.