Artist Studies: Matisse-inspired Collaborative Mural

Welcome to Artist Studies for Kids!

In this series, we celebrate inspiring artists tailored for educators working with ages 4-8. Each post features successful process-based projects linked to the artist. These projects are designed to encourage students to explore and engage with the artist’s work in different ways.

Introducing Henri Matisse

When possible, I try to introduce a new artist through a book. I chose 'Matisse's Garden,' as it has beautiful large fold-out pages where you can see the artworks in detail. We discuss the different shapes we see, and what they remind us of.

Learning and Moving

We invite the children to paint at large tables that are covered in colourful paper, and ready with palettes of paint and different sized brushes. The benches have been removed to encourage movement and collaboration. Some children start to paint straight away, others take their time to select the right brush or colour, some talk about parts of the story while they paint and others paint shapes inspired by the story. There are no guidelines of what to paint, and we do not ask the children directly to draw things they saw in the book. We see how some children paint areas collaboratively, some engage in conversation to divide the space or to share materials, and all are moving around the tables as they paint.

Before we work small, we work big!

Before diving into smaller-scale projects, we almost always create a large collaborative artwork together!
Once these painted sheets dried, the children cut out large, organic shapes reminiscent of Matisse's iconic motifs. Using blue tape, the children begin piecing together these shapes on the wall, creating a collaborative cut-out mural. We encourage them to step back to view the work from a distance and to rearrange pieces as they feel necessary.