Art Smart: A lesson in Line & Matisse

After an introductory lesson to art and the seven art elements done by my amazing, advocate for the arts, sister, the second graders got their first official art lesson by me last week.

I reintroduced the art element, line, by reading “Harold & the Purple Crayon.”

Then we talked about Henri Matisse and how he used line in his paintings.
Still Life with Magnolia by Henri Matisse

We talked about contour drawing, how artists take time to notice details and how they draw what they see with their eyes and their hearts.

We did a number of drawing activities including bent pipe cleaner drawings and contour Cheeto art.

The final piece of art the kids worked on was a still life using the skills they had learned.

I was most impressed how so many kids noticed how the stand (even though frosted clear color) actually had a blue cast to it because of the blue sky reflecting from the windows. That is how you draw what you see and not what you think you see.