Third Grade students explored the work of Henri Matisse. We focused on the contour line portraits he created and made our own using his art as our guide. In the following class we discussed the art movement Matisse helped to start known as Fauvism. Artists in this style are known for the wild crazy colors they use in their art. Students added their own wild colors to their portraits by coloring with marker on tin foil, spraying with water, and printing on top of their drawing!
After creating our ships in a bottle we looked at another maritime artist from the MFA -Winslow Homer and his painting The Fog Warning. Students used VTS (Visual Thinking Strategies) to figure out what was happening in the painting and then we began to create our own rough seas. Using papers we painted we covered cardboard with our blue paintings and created three dimensional waves. Students learned how to curl, bend and twist their papers to create their seascape. Once this step was complete we used our other painted paper to create a boat using origami. Students decorated their ships with sails and flags.
Third grade students looked at the artwork of a couple of artists that are featured at our very own Museum of Fine Arts in Boston- Henry Fitz Lane and Robert Salomon. Both artists created masterful paintings of boats. After designing their own boats we looked at various examples of model ships from the MFA noticing how one was displayed under glass. This reminded us of the tradition of creating ships in a bottle! We watched a video on how craftsman are able to accomplish this seemingly impossible task and then designed our own bottles. Finally, we traced everything onto transparency paper and added color on the back with oil pastels.
We often don't know what someone is thinking unless they choose to share it with us. Third graders made their thoughts visible in these amazing portraits inspired by the artist Martin
O’Neill
