Cut outs
Painting with scissors, colours and scents
Educational program designed and implemented by Off Stream for the children of the Center for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind – Thessaloniki’s Branch on the occasion of the 4th Summer Camp “Betty’s Eye”, on 5th July 2021.
The educational program was inspired by the artistic practice of gouache découpées by Henri Matisse with which the artist experimented during the last years of his artistic career.
Matisse described the process of creating these strikingly luminous works as “painting with scissors”. At this stage of his artistic career, he replaced the brush with scissors, painting large areas of paper with solid and bright colors, which he cut with scissors and composed by sticking them on the wall or on large areas of paper.
Similarly, the children aged 5-15 years old who experience different levels of sight loss, explored the characteristics of colours and shapes. The participants of the program, painted with scented colors on the surface of papers, which they later cut into shapes forming patterns either by hand or by scissors. Then they glued the abstract and schematic forms they created on a large cardboard surface, creating a group composition, inspired by Matisse’s practice bearing the scent of summer!
The educational program was implemented within the framework of the 4th Summer Camp “Betty’s Eye” of the CERB in Leptokarya of Pieria under the supervision and guidance of Leia Abraham and Vasiliki Makrygianni, Orientation and Mobility Instructors for Blind and visually impaired, from the Center for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind-Thessaloniki’s Branch.
Concept – Design – Implementation: Stela Anastasaki and Christina Vlachou
Focus Group-Feedback: Fani Tsikoura
Ages: 5-15 years old
Duration: July 2021
