Matisse meets Haring

In this lesson we combine Keith Haring and Henri Matisse.

Benodigdheden:

1. white drawing sheet
2. colored construction paper
3. black construction paper
4. scissors
5. glue

Show some of the later artwork from Matisse (fauvism, 1869-1954), his cut-outs and discuss them. What do you see? What shapes did Matisse use? What are the organic shapes? And the geometric shapes? What's the difference between them? What colors do you see?

Look at the human figures in Keith Harings artwork (popart, 1958-1990). What stands out? How are human beings drawn? Which parts of the body do you see, which parts nog? How do you see that people are moving?

What to do? 

1. Cut organic and geometric shapes from colored paper.  
2. Cut a human figure from black paper,  (do not draw first!). Be sure you can clearly see he's moving.  
3. Arrange the geometric and organic shapes on the white sheet. Overlap is allowed.   
4. Search for a good place where the human figure fits well and where you can see he's moving, for example because he steps on a geometric shape or dances between the organic shapes. 
5. Satisfied about your composition? Then glue on all the cut out shapes .

Circle City

You need: 

1. white drawing sheet
2. compass
3. ruler
4. pencil
5. markers
6. colored sheet
7. glue

Explain the one-point perspective: objects further away appear smaller. If we draw a street towards the horizon, it narrows and trees get smaller. 

In one-point perspective you draw all lines parallel to the viewing direction to one point. You literally put a dot on the horizon. 

What to do? 

• Draw a circle of 20 cm in diameter using the compass. Mark the hole in the center with a dot.  
• Draw lines form the edges of the circle to the dot in the middle, using ruler and pencil. 
• Draw buildings in different heights using the lines.  Draw doors and windows. 
• Color with markers. Outline everything with a fine black marker. 
• Cut the circle and stick it on a colored sheet. 

Art work made by students of grade 4. 

Henna hands

 You need:

1. white drawing sheet
2. colored sheet
3. Indian ink or fine black marker 
4. glue
5. scissors 
   
   

Henna art is making temporary decorations on the skin using dye from dried henna leaves. Henna decorations are applied during festive occasions in North-African and Asian countries. Used symbols are those of strength, luck, fertility and protection. Patterns and symbols vary per country.  

Trace your hand on a white sheet. Decorate with patterns. Cut oud and stick on a colored sheet. Cut the hand again with an edge of approximately 1/2 cm. 

Autumn birches

You need: 

1. drawing sheets A3 size
2. painters tape in several widths
3. liquid watercolor paint in red, green and yellow in rood, geel en groen
4. brushes
5. tempera paint  
6. stipple brush
7. old shopping card/customer card
8. saucers
9. jars

Choose thick drawing paper,  to avoid ripping when you remove the tape . 

Look at birch trees. What do you see?   

 

• straight trunks
• trunks are white
• horizontal peeling bark banden
• autumn color leaves: orange, yellow, brown, red

What to do?

Step 1
Palce the sheet on the table with the narrow site down.  Stick strips of tape from top to bottom. Wide for the trunks, narrower for the branches. Note: branches grow up and not down. 

Step 2

Paint the background in strips with diluted liquid watercolor. Let dry. Peel off the tape carefully. 

Step 3

Put some black tempera paint on a saucer. Dip your customer card in the paint. Pull this in several places from left to right (or right to left!) to halfway up the trunk to make the black streaks.

  

Step 4

Spray som warm colors tempera + green on a saucer.  Stipple leaves at the top of the trees using the stipple brush. Do not mix the colors, but use several colors at the brush at the same time.  

Step 5

Hang up! 

Artworks are made by students of grade 1. 

Wire portrait like Alexander Calder

made by teacher Wouter 

During a study day on art education our teachers made portraits of wire. This can also be done in higher grades. If you want to make wire figures in lower grades, then choose a simpler shape, for example fruit/veggies or an animal. 

This activity can be done in a lesson about Alexander Calder, known for his wire portraits and mobiles. 

You need:

1. 3 meters wire thickness 1,3 mm
2. wire cutter
3. printed selfie 30 by 40 cm
4. black marker
5. painters tape

Take a picture of yourself and print it. 

Outline your face, eyes, nose, mouth and hair using the black marker. Turn the sheet over, the lines can be seen on the back of it now.  

Wrap 3 m of wire around your fingers into a bunch. 

Start at the neck. Lay the wire flat on the photo and follow the lines of your face. Try to lay out the portrait without cutting the wire. If this doesn't work out, you may smuggle by cutting the wire and go on with a new piece. Give the portrait more strength by doubling the wire on some places. Stick the wire now and then on the photo with painters tape. 

Finished? Remove the pieces of tape. Fix the places where wire comes up by making connections with small pieces of wire. See detail photo.  

outline photo with marker

turn over, marker lines have been pushed through

follow the outlines with wire, stick with tape

make stronger

artworks on the table

hang up for beautiful shadows on the wall   

Painting with scissors like Matisse

made by students of grade 4

You need per student:

1. 1 sheet white drawing paper
2. 1 sheet colored construction paper 
3. 1 sheet colored construction paper from which you cut 7 cm 
4. 1 sheet blue construction paper 
5. leftovers of colored paper
6. glue
7. scissors
8. black marker

Who is Matisse?

Matisse (1869 –1954) was a French artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was primarily known as a painter.

Matisse didn't care if stones were blue, he just chose the colors he liked. Some people thought is art was very ugly: someone who paints blue faces and green noses is a fool and Matisse was called 'Fauve', which means: wild. This is how the word Fauvism came into being for this art movement, art with bold colors. 

After a surgery Matisse spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He wasn't able to paint anymore, but could still paint with his scissors.

View various artworks of Matisse. 

Then few the artwork Oasis. What stands out? 

• no straigh lines 
• organic shapes
• bright colors
• What is an oasis and why is this artwork called so?  

How to make it 

Step 1

Take the two colored sheets: a whole one and one with 7 cm cut off. Paste the smaller sheet on the large one. The strip at the bottom is the table for the fishbowl. 

Step 2

Cut Matisse shapes and glue them on the small sheet. Let them fall of the sheet and cut away the outer pieces.

Step 3

Fold a white sheet in half on the long side and cut out a fishbowl. The center line of the bowl is the fold of the sheet. Trace around the bowl with a thick black marker.   

Step 4

Cut 'water' out of the blue sheet, slightly smaller than the bowl. Paste it in the bowl. Paste the bowl on the colored sheet with organic shapes. 

Step 5

Cut two or three fishes and some water plants and paste them in the bowl.

Elements of art: shape, color. 

One pumpkin, four materials

 

You need:

1. drawing sheet
2. color pencils
3. watercolor paint
4. oilpastels
5. soft pastels

Fold the sheet in four. Draw 4 pumpkins. Color them with different materials. 

Sail with the VOC

 

by students of grade 6

 You need:

1. drawing sheet A3 size
2. drawing sheet A4 size
3. liquid water color
4. brush
5. oil pastel crayons
6. scissors and glue
7. ice cream sticks
8. boxcutter
9. cutting plate
10. newspapers 
11. paper towels

Towards the end of the Golden Age, the Netherlands are at war with England, a battle that is being fought at sea. 

In this lesson students draw a sea ship from that time. 

Study paintings of ships in a battle. What stands out? How do you recognize the Dutch and English ships? Which flags do you see more? What do you see in the foreground of the first painting? What can you tell about the sails? How can you see those ships are in combat? 

Naval battle Anglo-Dutch war(1666). Painter: Abraham Storck

Burning of a part of the English fleet (1667). 

Painter: Pieter van de Velde 

What should you do?

Step 1

First you paint the background on the largest sheet with liquid water color paint. At the bottom (near by) the water is dark, further away it becomes lighter (add water). 

Step 2

Draw on the A4 sheet a VOC-ship with oil pastel and color it. Draw and color extra things which you also see in the water during a naval battle, such as fire,, aa life boat, an anchor etc. Do not forget tho color the sails white!

Step 3

Paint your drawing with blue water color paint. Wipe the excess paint off the white sails with a paper towel. Let dry. 

Step 4

Cut out all parts, leaving a blue edge. Stick ice cream sticks behind the loose parts. Take the large blue painted sheet and decide where you want hour ship and the other things. Cut slices of about 3 cm in this sheet. Insert the sticks into the background and the artwork is done. 

Source: Laatmaarleren.nl 

Portraits like Rembrandt

You need:

1. drawing sheets A4 size
2. charcoal
3. paper towels
4. black construction paper for background 

Chiaroscuro is a tecnnique in artworks which display an extreme contrast is between light and dark to create a dramatic effect. 

Titus, son of Rembrandt van Rijn (Rembrandt, 1660)

Narcissus, the man who fell in love with himself, Caravaggio (1597-1599)

Show these two paintings. What do you see? Where are the dark parts, where the light ones? Why is that? What's the artists goal? What do you feel when you see these paintings?

Students sit in pairs facing each other and create a portrait of each other using hatching and swiping techniques. Of course the background is dark, the face light.

by students of grade 4  

Insects

 You need:

1. crayons
2. black construction paper 20 by 20 cm
3. black paint
4. brush
5. toothpick

Color a drawing sheet with crayons. Paint the entire sheet black and let it dry.  Scratch insects with a toothpick. 

 Paste the artwork on a coloured background.

Dutch canal houses: indian ink and soft pastels

You need: 

1. drawing sheets
2. pencil
3. ruler
4. indian ink
5. dip pen
6. soft pastels

Dutch canal houses are famous for their facades: stepped gable, neck gable, bell gable, clock gable or spout gable. Show pictures of those five gables and discuss them. Show photographs from canal houses and discuss the other features of canal houses: the stairs, symmetry, windows, ornaments, shutters. 

Students draw a line on their sheet about 5 cm from below. This is the canal. At the end you can glue all drawings together to get a long street full of canal houses. Sketch the houses lightly with a grey pencil. Indicate the places of windows, stairs, doors and shutters. Draw small boats in the canal. Draw the houses with indian ink and color them with soft pastels.

by students of grade  6

Fun flowers

 

You need:

1. white or colored drawing sheet
2. scraps of colored paper 
3. scissors
4. glue
5. black markers

Cut several circles from scraps of colored paper and paste them om the drawing sheet. Paste smaller circles on the bigger ones. Draw petals using several black markers in several thicknesses.   

Source: Krokotak.com

Vincent van Gogh's chair

You need:

1. for prints: colored paper 14 by 14 cm 
2. for background: colored paper 
3. linoleum 12 by 12 cm
4. carbon paper
5. lino knife
6. flat piece of glass 
7. block printing ink
8. lino roller
9. lino press
10. glue

The painting The chair is from 1888 (The National Gallery, London). View this painting and discuss it using elements of art. What do you see? What stands out? What do you on the chair? What can you say about the perspective? What materials did Van Gogh use? What do you think about the colors? Do you like the painting or not, and why is that?  

Print the drawing below as a picture of 12 by 12 cm. 

Transfer the lines from the image to the linoleum using carbon paper and a pen. 

Cut out the lines.

Make two prints in colors you like. You can mix them too! Let dry. 

Stick the works on a matching colored sheet. 

Elements of art: color, space, line. 

Tropical birds in chalk pastel

 

You need:

1. black construction paper
2. black oil pastels
3. chalk pastels
4. fixative spray

View photo's of tropical birds and discuss them. 

Draw on the black sheet a bird on an branch using black oil pastel. Color with chalk pastels and finish it with fixative spray. 

On Monet's bridge

You need: 

1. drawing sheet A3 size
2. tempera paint
3. brushes
4. white construction paper
5. scissors
6. oilpastels
7. glue

Claude Monet (1840-1926) is considered one of the most important painters of Impressionism. 

 Typical for Impressionists:

• they choose subjects from ordinary life 
• special attention for light and color
• work in the open air
• smooth brushstrokes
• dashes resemble a sketch
• it's about the impression!

Discuss the term impressionism. Show some paintings by Monet and zoom in on a work with water lilies in Arts & Culture. Do students see the characteristics of impressionism in this artwork?

Monet had a large garden with a pond and a Japanese bridge in Giverny France. He liked to paint in that garden. His works of water lilies are therefore famous and are the basis of this lesson.

Lesson 1

Draw a horizon line above the middle of your sheet. Paint the pond and the sky with short brush strokes, like Monet did. Do not mix the paint, but take two colors on your brush.  Make sure the blue color of the pond is not the same color as the sky.

Paint trees on both sides of the sheet in the same way. Paint water lilies in the pond. Be sure that they are larger in the front of the pond than in the back.  

Lesson 2

Have someone take a picture of you that shows you all the way. Print the photo and cut it out. 

Cut three parallel arcs from about 1,5 cm wide from the construction paper.  Then cut four straight pieces of 1,5 cm wide. Paste the photo on the work and paste the bridge over it. 

All artworks are made by students of grade 6

Source: MaryMaking.blogspot.com