COPAKE — Looking to artist Henri Matisse and his work creating cut-out designs, local residents were inspired to let their inner artist free by imitating Matisse’s style at the Roeliff Jansen Community Library’s Matisse and His Cut-Outs workshop on Thursday, March 25, at 7 p.m.
Gathering for the workshop over Zoom, Roeliff Jansen Community Library Children’s and Youth Services Associate Tia Maggio opened a PowerPoint presentation to talk about the life of the late artist.
Taking a walk back in time, Maggio shared stories from Matisse’s life, starting his work with cut-outs. Following an operation for stomach cancer, she said Matisse was no longer able to stand at an easel to paint. However, he forged a new way of drawing directly with color from his bed or wheelchair by cutting out shapes from paper to create designs, a process he called “painting with scissors.”
Going back to the very beginning, Maggio said Matisse was born in the north of France on New Year’s Eve 1869. His parents owned a shop similar to a hardware store that sold grain and paint, and while Matisse often worked at the shop after school, Maggio said he didn’t like it and didn’t want to take over the business.
After attending law school in Paris and easily passing his exams, Matisse worked at a local law office, though he found the work boring. At age 20, Matisse suffered an acute attack of appendicitis, and in the year it took for him to recover, his mother gave him a box of paints and a book of landscapes, a gift that ultimately changed the course of his life.
Calling it a light bulb moment for the artist, Maggio said Matisse felt “transported into a kind of paradise” when he started to paint. He attended art school in Paris at Académie Julian, but found himself restricted by the school’s traditional techniques. He was encouraged by his fellow students to seek out Gustave Moreau, a painter and teacher who encouraged individuality. In becoming Moreau’s student, Matisse was encouraged to paint outdoors. Maggio projected some of Matisse’s earlier paintings and workshop attendees admired the perspective and precision captured in the artist’s early works.
As Matisse’s artistic career took off, Maggio talked about the steps in his journey, narrating his travels to Corsica and Tunisia and the artists who influenced him, such as Paul Cézanne, whose inexactitude and use of color was admired by Matisse.
Looking at when he began to “paint with scissors,” Maggio and her audience mused over their impressions of the artist’s installments and their distinct attributes, admiring the size of his work and the materials used to create the designs.
Moving into a hands-on activity, Maggio presented a couple of designs and shapes to inspire those at the workshop. One person suggested using warm or cool colors when cutting out shapes, using the color wheel Maggio provided as a visual for possible color combinations.
While they worked, Maggio admired the color selections and let her students focus on creating their own “Matisses.” As they began crafting shapes and choosing unique color combinations, some asked questions about Matisse’s materials and techniques to expand their knowledge of the artist and to fuel their inspiration.
Images of the evening’s final creations can be viewed online at www.roejanlibrary.org.
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino 
