The fall of Icarus - like Matisse

You need:

1. dark blue construction paper
2. black construction paper
3. leftovers of construction paper in several colors
4. scissors
5. glue

In this lesson students cut a performance out of paper just like Matisse did with his work: The fall of Icarus. 

Matisse (1969-1954) was a French sculptor and painter. He is seen as the founder of fauvism. In his last years of life Matisse wasn't able to paint anymore. A pair of scissors was the tool he used to transform painted papers (painted by assistants) into a world of plants, animals, shapes and figures. 

One of these cut-outs is the artwork Icarus (1947). 

Read the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. 

Then look at the original artwerk Icarus.
What do you see? At what time of day were  Daedalus and Icarus flying and how can you see that? (at night - dark blue paper, stars). What do you notice about the body of Icarus?  (limbs have different thicknesses) What can you deduce from that? (no drawing in advance but cut out of the hand) What could be the red dot? (heart)  How do you know Icarus is falling? (arms spread, head not straight on the body) Can you see that Icarus is falling into the see? (no) What else could he fall in?

Task
The real Icarus fell into the sea, but our Icarus falls into something else ... and you  decide for yourself into what! Trees? A city? On a church?
Cut a falling human out of black construction paper.  You're not allowed to make a drawing in advance, just cut 'out of the hand'. If the first time fails, you take a new black sheet. Cut some stars. Cut a surface: in what is Icarus falling?  Place the loose parts on a blue sheet and stick all of them.

All artworks made by students of grade 3. 

Transport - like Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) was an Austrian artist and architect who is best known for the colorful buildings he designed, built with attention to the environment and nature. The buildings of Hundertwasser are very recognizable: straight lines are missing, there is use of bright colors and many of his buildings have typical turrets. The influence of architect Gaudi is obvious.

The paintings of Hundertwasser have exuberant colours too and mainly undulating lines.

Show buildings of Hundertwasser on the digital board. Discuss the salient  features: bright colours, undulating lines. Then show some paintings and discuss the things that stand out:

• the use of small areas outlined with black

• no straight lines, usually parallel lines
• recurring spiral shapes
• bright colours

Tell students they are going to draw means of transport in the style of Hundertwasser. 

You need:

1. drawing sheet
2. pencil
3. markers

Draw a car, plane, boat or something you think is a mean of transport. Fill it with lines and patterns like Hundertwasser did. Cut your drawing and paste all means of transport on a great colored sheet. 

Source: Dutch website Laat maar zien. 

Op art - like Henrique Matos

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. liquid water colour
3. jar with water
4. compasses
5. ruler
6. pencil
7. black waterproof markers

Henrique José Teixeira Matos is a Portugese painter. He is born in 1961 in Oporto.  Matos painted landscapes, portraits and abstract works, but is best known for his op-art work.
Show pictures of Matos's work on Wikimedia Commons. Look especially the op-art works and discuss what you see.

More op-art lessons on this blog can be seen following the link Op-art.

Paint a white sheet of paper with liquid watercolour and a lot of water a plain background.

Drip some liquid water colour on the surface while it is still wet. Use more water if the colours won't flow. Leave the sheet to dry.

Use compasses to draw some small circles (2 cm average) on the sheet. Draw wider circkels around them. Fill the sheet with those circles and half ones near the edges.

Draw lines from the middle of the circles to the edges. Be sure it's an even number of lines and  Kkeep the lines as much as possible equidistant from each other. Color the squares alternating with a black marker or pencil.

Op art hands

You need:

1. drawing sheet
2. pencil
3. ruler
4. markers 

Draw a grid on the sheet with squares from 2 cm by 2cm. Draw your hand or an object with a pencil. Color this alternately with black an a color of your choice.  Color the background squares with the same colors, but so that the checkerboard pattern reverses.

Where Keith Haring meets Piet Mondriaan

You need:

1. drawing sheet A2 size
2. black strips 1,5 cm wide
3. colored construction paper in red, yellow and blue
4. ruler
5. scissors
6. glue
7. black marker

This is a teamwork lesson for two students. 

Draw squares and rectangles of various sizes on the colored paper. Make sure they are straight: start from a right angle and measure carefully. Cut the squares and rectangles and spread them on the white sheet.  Make sure same colors do not touch each other and stick them. 

Continue with the black strips. Decide by yourself how many strips and where you want them, but there are four requirements:

• the strips must be sticked straight! (use your ruler)
• black strips must be sticked around all colored area's
• use the black strips to create white area's (squares and rectangles) 
• don't use to much glue. Let some strips stay loose so you can put a Haring figure behind it

Draw three or more Keith Haring  characters on the colored paper. Cut them and paste them on the Mondriaan sheet. Be sure there is no yellow character on a yellow area. 

Outline the characters with a black marker and draw some 'move stripes' around them.

Picture book illustration

Students of grade 6 made this illustration. After a good study of the original illustration in a Dutch picturebook, they made a list of required materials to use for this artwork. The faces and arms are painted, the clothes and curtains are cut out of fabric, the wallpaper comes from a sample book for wallpaper and the flags are from scraps of paper.

Popart like Burton Morris

You need:

1. several colours construction paper
2. black cardboard 20 by 20 cm
3. coloured cardboard 20 by 20 cm
4. scissors
5. glue
6. black thick marker

During our USA trip in the summer of 2009, I visited in the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, There I saw the artwork of Burton Morris for the first time: five paintings of cola bottles in pop-art style surrounded by light blue bubbles. So beautiful! Now I found a way to do this in school. And I think I'm the first blogger with a Morris lesson!

Burton Morris (Pittsburgh, 1964) is an American pop-art artist. He is influenced by pop-art artists from the 60's and 70's, like Warhol, Lichtenstein and Haring. Now he is one of the most famous modern post pop-art artist. Morris's work shows a contemporary twist to traditional pop-art. His work is cheerful, energetic and colourful. His characteristic lines with the bright colours give his work a fantastic energy. Morris's work is known of tv-series like Friends and also appears in major advertising campaigns by U.S. companies like AT & T, Pepsi and Heinz.

Source: www.burtonmorris.com

Show artwork of Morris on the digital board. Discuss the features: bright colours, black outlines, little detail, movement by little lines, white lines that suggest light and the distinctive black star shape around or in much of his work. Students are going to make an artwork in the style of Burton Morris with the subject: Valentine's Day.
Step 1. Take two colours cardboard: black for the edge and one colour for the background. take a construction paper for the big heart.
Step 2. Cut the edges of the background cardboard sloping away, to make a sort of rug. You have to cut at least 1 cm around.
Step 3. Cut a large heart from the second coloured cardboard. Cut white 'light lines' from a white sheet for on and around the big heart.
Step 4. Cut some smaller hearts from several colours of construction paper. Cut white 'light lines' and paste them on the little hearts; all on the same side.
Step 5. Paste the big heart on the coloured cardboard. Paste the light lines on the heart and around it.

Step 6. Cut long triangles from the sides of the rug, the 'flashy stripes'. Paste the rug on the black cardboard.

Step 7. Paste the small hearts around the big heart; you may k de kleine hartjes rondom het grote hart, where you can go over the triangles. Outline the small hearts with a black marker.

Step 8. Cut the black background away, leaving about 2 mm on the edges.

Step 9. Paste the work on a coloured sheet (A4 size) and cut it into a square.

Made by students of grade 4 and 5