This term in Art, Year Two have been studying the artist Henri Matisse. They have been using collage to recreate one of his famous pieces, as well as creating their own artwork.
First, the children learnt about primary and secondary colours. The children found out that you can make secondary colours by mixing primary colours together. They worked together to mix their colours and create a colour wheel.
Next, the children learnt about Matisse. Matisse started creating art after he became ill. He started with painting but then progressed to collage which he called ‘painting with scissors’. The boys and girls were very surprised to discover how big Matisse’s work often was. The children looked at ‘The Snail’ and identified the primary and secondary colours in Matisse’s work before using a selection of coloured paper to create their own interpretations of his collage.
After that, the boys and girls learnt how to create shades and tints of the same colour. They added white paint to orange to create a lighter tint and black paint to orange to create a darker shade. Finally, it was time for the children to create their own collages. They used the different oranges they had painted, along with tissue paper and cellophane to create a scene showing houses on fire. The children ripped up their different materials to represent flames before arranging them to create their final piece.
