Henri Matisse: "Painting with Scissors"

Over here at Modern Art 4 Kids, we are no strangers to Henri Matisse, the most beloved Fauve of all! When Matisse was nearly 72 years old, he became ill and it was difficult for him to stand and paint. However, this did not damper his creativity. He began a new technique, which he called, "painting with scissors", which was painting large sheets of paper with different colors using gouache, an opaque watercolor. He would then cut beautiful, organic, free-flowing shapes with scissors. "Une seconde vie”, a second life, was what Matisse called the last fourteen years of his life, working on his collages, or cut outs.

Here is where it gets good.

He used several assistants to be his "arms and legs", moving and arranging his cut outs along the walls of his studio. I decided to try our own painting with scissors workshop, with each student taking a turn being the artist, while the rest of the students became the assistants.

"Move it a little to the right."
"To the left!"
"Ok, a little more...a little more. No! Go back. Tilt it. Ok, that looks good."

Needless to say, it was harder than it seemed! Trying to convey your vision as an artist is quite challenging when you have to rely on someone else to help you bring it to life. But it was alot of fun. We all shared a good laugh that day. We also learned just how tenacious and dedicated Henri Matisse was, to continue his creative work well into his 80’s. Matisse’s cut-outs are among the most admired and influential works of his entire career.

• I used an inexpensive poster board and painted each sheet in a different color using tempera paint. Tempera paint is very similar in texture and consistency to gouache paint.
• I tried to use a wide variety of colors.
  
• After each sheet dried, I cut shapes out myself. You don't have to be precise or crazy analytical, just think organic and free-flowing, just like Matisse.
• If you have the time in class, you can have your students take care of this step. Cutting out shapes is fun. Since I wouldn't have the time in class, I did this step at home.
  

• After all the paint was dry and I cut various shapes into the poster board, I arranged the shapes into piles, according to color and laid them out on the table.
  
• This made it easy for each appointed artist to find what they were looking for.
• The colors were vibrant and the shapes themselves took their cue from Matisse's work.
• I made sure to show the students several examples of Matisse's cut out art.
  

• Each student took turns being "artist".
• Since we have several students in class and not enough cut out shapes to go around, I had the students mount their shapes up on the wall using small strips of masking tape.
• This made it easy to move around and to remove at the end of each student's design.
• I contemplated using push pins, but I didn't want to make a bunch of holes in the cut out shapes--I also didn't want to poke holes in the wall (since we rent the building!).
• The tape ended up working just fine.
• Each artist had to speak clearly and had to know exactly what their vision was. The assistants just had to have patience. :)
  

The finished projects came out beautifully. They were simple yet had the same visual punch that Matisse had. This is definitely a project that I would consider doing again. It was fun to use such large shapes against the wall. Its so boring to use the same, small pieces of scrapbooking paper in our collages. This time we got to use bold and graphic shapes. I also recycled all the shapes for the next week when I let each student create their own smaller-scale collage. No assistants this time, just their own hands and artistic abilities.

Henri Matisse in his studio, working on his famous cut outs.

Frank Stella: Relief Sculptures

Frank Stella is an American Minimalist painter and sculptor whose work spans over five decades! He's one of the first artists to use shaped canvases. I really like Stella's bold use of line and shape. All those clean lines and graphic shapes make me happy. He really charms this slightly obsessive compulsive artist's little heart! I've been stewing over a Frank Stella project for a couple of years now, not really knowing how I would flesh it out. After getting a few ideas online and gathering it with some of the classroom experience I have acquired, this project was really fun and manageable for the students. And me! I decided to explore Stella's relief sculptures. This translated nicely with simple cardboard shapes, paint and a hot glue gun.

• A few weeks before class, gather a bunch of cardboard scraps. Perhaps you have some left over from your papier mache project. I used cereal and pasta boxes too and they seemed to be alot easier for the students to cut with scissors.
  
• You will also need paint. My students didn't like the way tempera paint was flat, so we used some Smart Craft paint instead. It was much more bright and vibrant.
• I began by showing the students some of Stella's sculptures, for inspiration.
• To get the students going, I had them sketch some simple shapes onto newsprint, which they then sketched onto the cardboard.
  
• I will admit the classroom was a bit chaotic, since there were students in different phases of the project. I had three tables going: one for cutting the cardboard, the second for painting and drying (with my handy dandy hair-dryer!), and the third for assembling/gluing sculpture together.
• I helped each student with their concept. Some students were inspired by music, sports and aliens.
• It is important for each student to create a base for their sculpture, so they have something to build their shapes upon.
• After each cardboard piece is cut out, begin the painting phase. Since there was no time to primer them, each piece needed a couple of coats of paint. Here is where the hair-dryer comes in.
• Encourage students to create designs and patterns on their cardboard pieces, which will make the overall sculpture more intricate and eye-catching.
• When all pieces are dry, instruct students to play with their shapes, arranging them in the most visually interesting design. This was fun!
  
• Now the trick is to remember how you originally laid it out so you can recreate it while laying it down with a hot glue gun!
• I didn't feel comfortable with the students handling a hot glue gun, so I just sat down with them and had them instruct me where each piece went so I could glue them down. You could also use basic Elmer's glue but it would probably take a long time to dry and wouldn't be as sturdy. Of course, older students can use a hot glue gun.

I was really impressed with how they all turned out. The students were really involved with each process and once again, I am amazed at their creativity! So give this project a try, it was alot of fun and there are lots of ways you can adapt the overall concept.

The artwork above was created by my son, who is in the 3rd grade. Here are a few additional sculptures made by my students.

Andy Warhol: Pop Art

If you've never heard of Andy Warhol, then you've been missing out on the one of the queerest, most avant garde, most groovy artists of the 60's. He believed that you could elevate something as mundane and common as a soup can and it could turn into something visually interesting. He began to experiment with silk screening, and his celebrity portraits--most notably, Marilyn Monroe--are some his most beloved works. I decided to have some fun with this project, and we embarked on our own Pop Art portrait.

This project requires some preparation beforehand. Before the students left class for the day, I had them line up against the wall one by one, and I took a black and white photo of them.

• 
  Then I copied and pasted them four times, to form a grid pattern.
• Once I have uploaded and cropped all of the images, I then proceeded to play with each individual portrait on photoshop, upping the contrast and then posterizing them, giving them a paint by numbers quality.
• After printing each one, I got to serious work.
• Each printed portrait now has to be decoupaged onto a piece of watercolor paper. Decoupage is basically a gluing technique.
• I use Matte Medium for all my collage/decoupage projects.
• Decoupaging will prepare the surface and will give it a matte finish.
• It's up to you, whether or not you want your students to decoupage on their own. Since I have a time crunch, I decided to do it at home beforehand. I also couldn't bear the thought of the students sloshing their way through my beloved bottle of Liquitex Matte Medium, which costs me $19.99!
• That afternoon before class, everyone had their black and white portrait of themselves primed and ready to go!
• Encourage each student to be creative within each grid, using contrasting colors and patterns but following the basic posterized shapes.
• Each student was given a palette with 4-5 colors of acrylic paint in each well. Make sure each student has their own water container as well, it just makes it easier for each student to keep their brushes clean and their paint from getting too muddy.

This is one of my favorite projects because this is a technique that I employ in alot of my personal mixed medium paintings. You would not believe some of the stuff the students came up with! Although it involves a good deal of preparation, the results are worth it! Every student was excited to take their portraits home. And for once, this was a keeper!

The portrait above was created by a seventh grader.