What happens when you combine paper cutting Matisse style with cool grade one self-portraits ?  An opportunity show off some creativity and have lots of fun! I saw this lesson over at Incredibleart.org and thought I would give it a go with my grade one crew.  We looked at many of Henri Matisse’s art work especially the collages he made later on in life. Matisse’s art was such a big hit with the kids and they loved the vibrant colors and shapes he used. This is a great time to introduce the terms organic and geometric shapes.

Give your students colored paper so they can cut the whole page up into organic and geometric shapes. I gave each table a tray and suggested  they work as a team. As they cut up their shapes they would place the pieces on the tray for the table to use later.

Next, each student picked a 12×18 piece of paper and using the shapes in the tray, organized their art before gluing down the pieces. It was wonderful to hear students talking about their organic and geometric shapes!

The following art class, we all practiced drawing a self-portrait on an individual white board while using a mirror. Once the kids were confident with their drawing skills, the final part of the project was to draw their self-portrait over the Matisse shapes. First with a pencil, then outlining the self-portrait with a thin black marker and finally with a thick black crayon to make it stand out.  They could use crayons to color in their eyes, hair and clothes.

How gorgeous are these?

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