Explore the exhibition What Music is Within: Black Abstraction from the Permanent Collection through this abstract collage activity inspired by Eugene Martin.

Use shape, color and line to create a geometric art piece.  

Eugene Martin, Geometric Abstract, 1999, Acrylic on canvas

Eugene Martin is best known for his imaginative, complex mixed media collages on paper, His signature style, a blend of soft organic forms with hard-edged geometric figures, embodies his complex life story – an independent thinker with a traditionalist’s background. Martin’s revolutionary approach to Geometric Abstraction demonstrates his grasp of Cubism as well as his own innovative styling. Martin called many of his works straddling both abstraction and representation “satirical abstracts”.

Supplies

Scissors, Color Paper, Glue Stick

Instructions  

Step 1: Think about what colors and shapes you want in your piece.

Step 2: Use scissors to cut out shapes from the color pieces of paper.

Step 3: Think about how you want to arrange your shapes. Think about layering the shapes to create depth.

Step 4: Once you have decided on a layout, use a glue stick to glue the pieces to the background.

If you do not have color paper, get creative, cut shapes out of a magazine or any other paper that you can find. Think about how the colors, shapes and images within the cut magazine pieces relate to each other as you arrange them on the background.