Henri Matisse

This week the 3rd grade class recently finished their Henri Matisse inspired collages. Students learned about the french painter Henri Matisse and his use of color and why he was thought of as such an influential painter of his time. To honor Henri Matisse, students were asked to use line and  recreate a his first style of painting by using blocks of color  and oil pastels on a small 8.5x11 sheet of paper. Students were encouraged to try variation of line ( defined as a dot that moves) and line directions ( horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines).  Next, onto of the same compositions students were asked to simulate Henri Matisse's later style of "painting with scissors" using recycled paper to create images, forms, shapes or lines.

Overall the lesson was a great success and the students really enjoyed the bright playful use of the oil pastels as well as using their imagination to see how cutting with scissors can be a fun challenge to portray people, animals, places or things.

Here's the link  for the child friendly Henri Matisse clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7OmJ_tTLTQ&feature=plcp

Take a look at the 3rd grade student work as it lines the hallway of our school!