3rd Grade Art Project

“Matisse Collage”

The 3rd grade project reinforces the art elements of line and color. Students are introduced to the French Impressionist artist, Henri Matisse through the use of a biographic children’s book on the famous artist. Students are shown pictures of several of his paintings and told the story of how, in his later life, he was unable to pursue painting due to illness. Not wishing to give up life as an artist Matisse took to “drawing with scissors” and created new works based on paper collage. Students are shown Matisse collages and the concepts of positive and negative space, organic and geometric shapes and the use of bold colors are reviewed in detail. After their introduction the students are given scissors, paper and glue and create their own Matisse inspired collages.