Magnificent Matisse at Ushaw

Key Stage 2 have had a fantastic today learning about Henry Matisse!

We began our Ushaw adventure by walking past an array of artwork in the corridors to reach the refectory. In there, we saw beautiful stain glass windows before moving on. 

We entered the art gallery and explored all of the art work and information boards. Together, we shared the story of Matisse’s life and learned that primarily he was a painter. An illness later in life restricted his mobility but, still wanting to be creative, he began cutting shapes from paper, his first being a white bird. This was around the 1930s. He felt a bit limited with white paper so instead, asked his assistants to paint it; “Paper cutouts allow me to draw in colour,” he said. Later on, he realised his cutouts were too delicate to be transported so began the process of lithography instead.

We all really enjoyed drawing and colouring some of his shapes. We also completed some observational drawings of a piece of art work which we felt inspired by or connected to. 

The next most important part of the day- LUNCH! Eating in the refectory surrounded by stained glass windows and bronze chandeliers was really fantastic. A bit of a change from our usual lunch setting!

Our next task was to design a piece of work to include nature, places that make us happy and movement. We broke off in to small groups to explore the gallery again, this time considering what shapes and styles we might want to mimic. Back in the refectory, we used scissors and coloured paper to create our own paper cut collages. Using stop animation, we brought our paper cuts to life by moving parts of our paper cut one by one. 

We all had a wonderful day visiting Ushaw Historic House and have come away with a wealth of knowledge about the prominent artist, Henry Matisse.

Thank you Ushaw Historic House!

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