Twice a month, we've been holding Art Club this year. While we usually make something everyday- even if it's as simple as putting pencil to paper- studying artists was something I wanted to be purposeful about in Treehouse School this year. Since I was already preparing materials for two children, why not add eleven more? As I've shared before, I was once an art classroom teacher so I know you can do just about anything with a good lesson & prepped materials (wink). To keep our Club small, we only invited our Preschool thru 1st grade friends to join us. While older siblings have jumped in time to time, I wanted the focus on the littles. To make it even more little-friendly, we broke up into two groups: Preschool and K/1st. One group works upstairs at the dining table, and the second group works in our basement's homeschool area. Sometimes we stay in these areas the whole time, other times we'll switch halfway through. The switching is especially handy for messy projects since it's only occurring in one space! If you're interested in holding a similar Art Club, I'll be sharing some pointers in a post next week so stay tuned. 

For the K/1st grade group, we first reviewed what a pattern is and everyone filled a piece of construction paper with pattern using Prismacolor NuPastels. After coloring their pages, we reviewed Matisse's shapes with them discussing the difference between geometric shapes (circle, triangle, etc.) and his free-form shapes. We encouraged them to include at least a couple of Matisse's shapes in their artwork. They then cut out shapes from their patterned paper, as well as small pieces of miscellaneous paper from our collage bin. Once their shapes were cut, they glued them onto another piece of paper to create their collage.

For the Preschool group, we also reviewed what a pattern is and talked about the patterns in Matisse's artwork. We encouraged them to create a pattern using beeswax crayons on a piece of construction paper. We then reviewed what a shape is, asking them which ones they knew (circle, square, etc.) and pointing out again which ones are in Matisse's artwork (starburst, splash, spirals, zigzags, wavy lines). They then cut out their own shapes and glued them onto the patterned paper. One child decided to make a three-dimensional spiral, which I thought was fabulous!

The last thing we created was a plastic lid sun catcher based on Matisse's "Icarus" (1947). We've made plastic lid suncatchers before using glue & paint. While they turned out fine, I've figured out a method with richer color and fuller coverage. We use a Martha Stewart Multi-Surface Paint as a base, then tint it with a little bit of another acrylic color. The Multi-Surface Paint binds wonderfully with the lid, and we haven't had any flaking or cracking. 

For the suncatchers, I first wrote each child's name on the outside of their lid's rim with permanent marker. This way it won't show later when the sun shines through! I put a large squirt of silver Multi-Surface Paint on each  lid. then added a smaller squirt of blue acrylic paint for them to mix in. Some of the older children wanted to add in black paint, but I wouldn't recommend it since it became a lot more opaque. 

While the paint was still wet, the children stuck on foam stars and a little figure that I had already prepared. Once they were dry, we added the smidge of red with Prismacolors (acrylic paint would work too) and hot-glued on a pipe-cleaner loop for hanging. 

Then they're perfect for hanging in a window!

If you've enjoyed this, I'll be adding more Art Club lessons. So far this year we've made aluminum dancers like Edward Degas, ran around our woods splatter-painting like Jackson Pollock, and created nature sculptures like Andy Goldsworthy. So much fun! 

Additional Matisse Resources: