2nd grade Painting with Scissors

 I like to use Matisse to teach 2nd graders about shape. The last 2 years we've spent time learning about Matisse and his artwork, then the students used construction paper to create their compositions. Some of the students did a nice job but most struggled with the idea of overlapping while maintaing some sort of balance. (Gluing so many layers that you can no longer see the cut shapes was common.) To try to remedy that we painted the background with paint and created the foreground by painting with scissors.

Source: youtube.com via Katie on Pinterest

The first class period was spent on introduction- we watched the video of Matisse painting with scissors, above, then a PPT presentation of his artwork- and creating the background. The students used rulers (if they wanted) to divide their 9x12 inch paper into geometric shapes. The students were given tempera paint in the primary colors to fill in their spaces. In the second class period, the students used construction paper scraps to make organic shapes. When we discussed Matisse's artwork, the students liked to point out "ish" shapes since we had recently read the book by Peter H. Reynolds. I asked that one of their organic shapes be an "ish" shape and some could just be free form. The students this year actually did a pretty good job controlling their glue but some still can not understand (or choose to ignore) the "just a dot, not a lot" reminder. :)

This student missed the first day so I asked her to start by selecting some large geometric shapes to glue down before moving on to organic shapes.

2nd Grade Painting with Scissors

2nd grade students learned about Matisse and created cut paper collages.  The project was pretty much the same as last year, you can read more details on that post.  

My "rules" for this project:

• Use both organic and geometric shapes
• Use a variety of colors
• "Draw" with the scissors, cut shapes directly from paper without drawing in pencil first

When students finished their individual collages, I had them cut a shape and add it to the giant collage.  I cut a big piece of butcher paper and glued some whole construction paper pieces to it.  When it was finished and every student had had a chance to add their shape, I hung it in the hallway with lots of tape on the background and a border of tape around it.  It was a lot easier for me to hang one big piece of art than 100+ to show the project since I was 37 weeks pregnant at the time!  I know that it stayed on the wall for at least the next week and I was on maternity leave after that so I don't know it it's still up or not...  Guess I'll find out in a few weeks!

When Pigasso Met Mootisse

If you haven't already, you REALLY need to check out When Pigasso Met Mootisse by Nina Laden.  

The very clever and very funny book is kind of a parody of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse's friendship.  My students and I really enjoyed it.  You can view my lesson plan on Artsonia (or just keep reading!)

Objectives

1. The students will listen to and participate in a discussion about Nina Laden’s “When Pigasso Met Mootisse.” 

2. The students will define friendship and brainstorm a list of attributes of a good friend. 

3. The students will create a portrait of a friend they would want to have (not a specific person) in a style that combines Cubism and Fauvism. 

4. The students will write at least five words/phrases that describe a friend they would want to have. 

5. The students will apply knowledge of warm and cool colors in the creation of their drawings.

Materials

Day 1: 9x12 inch white paper, pencils and erasers
Day 2: Pencils, erasers, sharpies or other black marker/felt tip pen
Day 3: Crayons or oil pastels

Day 1: The teacher will introduce the project by reading “When Pigasso Met Mootisse” to the class. After the story, the class will discuss the big idea of the book: Friendship. The teacher will call on students to answer the questions:
What is friendship?
How do you know if someone is your friend?
Next, the teacher will ask the class to brainstorm qualities of a good friend. As the qualities are listed, the teacher will record them on the board. The teacher will explain to the students that for their assignment, they need to think of what qualities they want in a friend. The teacher will tell the students that they will be drawing a portrait of a friend they would want to have (a generic friend, not a specific person). The teacher will remind the students that Pigasso and Mootisse were based on real artists from history, Pablo Picasso and Henri Mattisse. The teacher will tell the students that Picasso was one of the founders of Cubism (more than one side of something is shown at the same time) and that Matisse was a Fauve (Fauve means wild beast, called that because of the bright, wild colors they used.) Both styles will be reflected in the portraits.
The teacher will lead the students through the drawing of a Cubist portrait.
1. Ask the students to place their hand in the middle of their paper. Since your face is about the size of your hand, it is a good guide. The students will use their pencils to put a dot right above the middle finger and right below their palm.
2. Draw the outside shape of a face. An oval or egg shape will work fine since the portraits will be abstract. The dots are a guide to get the head big enough. The top and bottom of the oval should touch the dots. If students need a guid for how wide to make the shape, the width of their hand will work.
3. Draw a side view of a face (in profile) in the middle of the paper. Students can start at the top dot and end at the bottom. (Before drawing, I turned sideways and traced my profile with my finger pointing out forehead, brow ridge, nose, bottom of the nose, lip 1, lip 2, chin. While drawing, I modeled my thought process so students knew I wasn't just making a squiggly line.)
4. Add features to face in profile: side of nose, lips, eye brow, eye looking sideways, ear.
5. Add features to the other half of the face, looking straight forward. Simplified shapes are good (football shape for eye, etc.)
6. With any remaining time, show the students how to draw shapes for hair. Stress to the students not to shade in the hair or make individual strands, just the outline. This is where the students can make their "friend" a boy or a girl.

Day 2: The teacher will quickly review the material covered on day 1. The students will choose at least 5 words of phrases that describe the kind of friend they would want to have (nice, honest, fun, etc.) and use a pencil to write them around their drawing. The students will use sharpies or black markers to trace over all of the lines they have drawn and the words that they wrote. When everyone is done tracing, pick up the markers and tell students to get their pencil again. Next, use the pencil to lightly draw lines dividing the head and background into more shapes. I suggest using a line on the paper as a starting point and drawing a straight line to the edge of another line for the face or to the edge of the paper for the background. Tell the students that every shape will be carefully colored in so they should not overdo it! If everyone finishes early, start the process described for Day 3.

Day 3: The teacher will remind the students that the first part of the drawing was inspired by Cubism and the colors will be inspired by Fauvism. The teacher will review warm and cool colors with the students and tell them that they will use warm colors for the face and hair and cool colors for the background. The teacher will demonstrate applying color with crayon to a drawing. The teacher will also remind the students that the colors don’t have to make sense. A color can be used more than once but two shapes of the same color should not touch.

Here are some of the results!  You can view the whole exhibit in our Artsonia gallery!

2nd Grade Painting with Scissors (Matisse Inspired Project)

I always like to try to get my students excited about Art History with new projects.  Ordering supplies has been a longer process than I expected so I decided to make use of the construction paper scraps the previous art teacher had wisely saved by designing a Matisse project.  My goal was for the students to learn about organic and geometric shapes, color, composition, and Art History.

I spent most of the first 40 minute class period on an Art History PowerPoint.  I found great information and images of Matisse's paper pictures and even a photo of the artist working in his studio at Henri-Matisse.net.  I told the students that Henri Matisse was a French painter and leader of the Fauvist movement.  He was interested in the expressive qualities of color.  Toward the end of his life Matisse was too weak to stand at an easel so he started using painted paper and making cutout designs which he called "Painting with Scissors".  (This also made me want to literally paint with scissors!)

The title slide of my PowerPoint showed Matisse working in his studio.

Next, I showed an image of Woman Reading from 1894 followed by the Woman with a Hat (Madame Matisse) from 1905 followed by the Red Room (Harmony in Red) from 1908 to show how he progressed from a pretty realistic representation to more abstract paintings which showed his increasing interest in color and shape.  All of the students agreed that Woman Reading looked real and at first seemed a bit confused by making things look progressively less-real.  I remembered everything I could about Harmony in Red from my Art History II class (thank you, Monica!) and talked my student through the elements and principles of the painting.

After the paintings, I showed the students about a dozen of Matisse's paper cutouts.  We spent time critiquing a couple of the cut outs in each class with Describe, Analyze, Interpret, and Judge.  I pointed out how Matisse made his compositions more interesting by overlapping shapes and by using both organic and geometric shapes.  When talking to students about shapes, I try to keep it pretty simple by explaining that organic shapes are shapes inspired by nature and geometric shapes have regular edges like the shapes they learn about in Math class.  I told the students what their project requirements were and modeled the process with my example below.  The students were supposed to use many colors, have overlapping, and use both organic and geometric shapes.

I added to my example with each class.  I told the students not to draw the shapes with pencil before cutting, just to draw with the scissors.  I only had bottle glue available so I showed the students MANY times how little glue it takes to hold the cutouts in place.  One of the students chanted "just a dot, not a lot" and I really liked the ring of it!  I showed them how you hardly have to squeeze the bottle just to do tiny dots.  I turned my paper upside down and said if the glue drips, you used too much.  The students finished their projects in one class period.  Some students just made abstract compositions while others created illustrations.  I did not tell them which to do.

This student is so fun, she ALWAYS tells a story with her artwork, regardless of the assignment.

There's a cool mask going on in this picture.

I love the green rectangles in this one.

This was a fun landscape.  Very symmetrical.

View the entire Artsonia exhibit HERE!