Matisse Cut-outs

This week's lesson will be based on the artwork of Henri Matisse. Notice anything familiar about the piece of artwork above? Yes, there are shapes that show positive and negative space! Good job remembering last week's lesson!

One of the types of art Henri Matisse is well known for is his artwork where he cut out shapes from paper. He used scissors to cut all sorts of shapes - small and large. Some of the shapes look like real objects (realistic) while others look like nothing in real life (abstract). Look at some of Henri Matisse's cut-outs:

Ready to make your own Matisse cut-out? Please have an adult help you since you will need to use scissors. Start by taking different colored construction paper and cutting out different shapes. Make them lot of different sizes. Also, don't throw away the paper that is left after you cut out a shape. This can be used as well to make negative shapes. After you finish cutting out shapes, lay them out on a background paper (any color). Make sure you overlap some shapes - this means you put shapes on top of each other. If you do not like how it looks, move the shapes around. Then you can use a glue stick to glue your pieces on the paper.

Don't have scissors? Don't worry! You can rip the paper instead. Don't have construction paper? You can color white paper with whatever you have - crayons, markers, paint. Here are 3 examples of the finished project:

Make sure you check out the section "Fun Activities for Everyone"

for extra art activities