The Montessori learners are excited to explore different artists as well as different types of art. The learners focused on the French artist Henri Matisse, who was best known for his paintings and a new form of art he developed using paper and scissors when he was too ill to paint. 

The learners explored Matisse’s style of “drawing with scissors” by cutting out and gluing unique shapes from colorful construction paper. You can see these works of art on the Montessori bulletin board. The guides also shared books about Matisse, including Henri’s Scissors and Blue and Other Colors with Henri Matisse. One of the learners’ favorites was Oooh! Matisse. In this book, close up images of several of the unique shapes used by Matisse in his artwork are shown. The learners guessed what the shapes would turn into, such as a leaf, feather, or snow-capped mountain. 

Some learners delved deeper into this style of art, investigating the difference between geometric and organic shapes. Geometric shapes have uniform edges and lines. Some examples are circles, rectangles, squares, and triangles. Organic shapes, which are prevalent in Matisse’s artwork, have curvy edges and irregular lines. The learners observed that Matisse may have chosen to use more organic shapes because they are found more often in nature. 

The learners cut out their own versions of geometric and organic shapes and sorted them into the two categories (geometric and organic). The learners also expressed how looking at these different types of shapes made them feel. One said that the organic shapes made her feel excited, while another said that the geometric shapes made her feel calm.

The learners expressed a lot of interest in exploring their artistic and creative sides, and the guides look forward to introducing more art mediums (such as drawing and sculpting) and artists (such as Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, and Pablo Picasso) in the coming weeks.