Collage and Mixed Media

Introduction

Welcome to Collage and Mixed Media. In this aiMOOC for Grades 5–6, you will learn how artists build pictures by cutting, tearing, arranging, drawing, painting, printing, and combining materials. You will look closely at artworks, experiment with texture and colour, plan strong compositions, and create original work from paper and everyday materials.

A collage is an artwork made by attaching pieces of material to a surface. The word collage is related to the French verb coller, meaning to glue. Mixed media means using more than one material or art process in the same artwork. A collage can also be mixed media when, for example, you combine magazine paper, paint, pencil, fabric, and printed textures.

Look at the image above. Notice that the artwork is still being built. Collage often develops through testing: you can move pieces, overlap them, turn them, remove them, and try a new arrangement before you glue anything down.

The Tate Kids video gives you a practical introduction to collage-making with simple materials. Watch for moments when the maker experiments before deciding where each piece belongs.

Learning Goals

By the end of this course, you should be able to explain the difference between collage and mixed media, identify important art elements such as colour, shape, texture, line, value, and space, and use these elements to make a clear visual idea.

You will also learn to:

Composition: Arrange parts so that the viewer knows where to look.
Texture: Create or suggest rough, smooth, soft, shiny, wrinkled, or patterned surfaces.
Contrast: Make differences in colour, size, shape, value, or texture stand out.
Layering: Place one material partly or fully over another to build depth.
Recycling: Reuse suitable clean materials as art resources instead of always using new ones.
Reflection: Explain your choices and give helpful feedback about artworks.

What Is Collage?

In collage, the artist joins pieces that were separate before. These pieces might be coloured paper, newspaper, maps, wrapping paper, photographs, tickets, labels, tissue paper, cardboard, fabric, foil, leaves, or other flat materials. Drawing and painting can be added before or after the pieces are attached.

The important idea is not simply to glue many things onto a page. A strong collage uses selection and arrangement. The artist decides what to include, what to leave out, what should overlap, which shapes should repeat, and where the viewer's eye should travel.

Cut edges usually look controlled and sharp. Torn edges often look softer, rougher, or more energetic. Neither is better. The edge should fit your idea.

In this MoMA studio video, notice how collage can begin with looking, sorting, testing, and changing. Professional artists and young artists both benefit from trying more than one arrangement.

Positive and Negative Space

Positive space is the area taken up by the main shapes or objects. Negative space is the space around and between them. In collage, empty areas are not wasted space. They help important shapes breathe and can make a composition easier to read.

Try this quick experiment: place three paper shapes close together in the centre of a page. Then spread the same shapes far apart. Without gluing, compare the two versions. Which feels calm? Which feels active? Which gives the shapes more importance?

Overlap and Depth

When one shape covers part of another, the viewer usually reads the covered shape as being behind. Artists use this simple clue to suggest depth on a flat surface. Larger shapes placed lower on the page may also feel closer, while smaller shapes placed higher can seem farther away.

You can make depth stronger by changing size, colour, detail, and texture. A bold textured shape can come forward, while a pale simple shape can seem to move back.

What Is Mixed Media?

Mixed-media art combines different materials or processes. For example, you might paint a background, glue on patterned paper, draw over it with marker, add a printed texture, and attach a small piece of fabric. The materials should work together to support the idea.

When you study mixed-media art, ask two questions: What materials can I identify? and Why might the artist have chosen them? A shiny material can suggest metal or light. Rough cardboard can suggest age, stone, bark, or strength. Transparent paper can show what is underneath.

Mixed media is useful when one material alone cannot express everything you want. It also encourages experimentation. You may discover unexpected effects when a dry pencil line crosses painted paper, or when a transparent layer partly hides a photograph.

Collage, Photomontage, and Assemblage

These terms are related but not identical. A collage mainly builds an image by attaching materials to a surface. A photomontage is a kind of collage that mainly combines photographic images or parts of photographs. An assemblage is often three-dimensional and brings real objects or found materials together.

You can think of assemblage as a three-dimensional relative of collage. In school, always use clean, safe, lightweight found objects approved by your teacher.

A Short History of Collage

People have attached paper, fabric, and decorative pieces to surfaces for centuries. In the early twentieth century, European modern artists made collage an important part of new experiments in art. Cubist artists began placing real paper, printed material, and other everyday surfaces into pictures instead of only painting an imitation of them.

Juan Gris made the 1914 collage Breakfast. Look for the way real paper patterns, drawn forms, and painted areas share the same surface. The artwork asks you to notice both the objects shown and the actual materials used to build the image.

In The Musician's Table from 1914, Juan Gris combined materials including charcoal, wax crayon, gouache, wallpaper, laid papers, transparentized paper, newsprint, and wrapping paper. This is a clear historical example of how collage and mixed media can work together.

Later, artists connected with Dada used collage and photomontage to make surprising, humorous, critical, or strange combinations. Artists such as Hannah Höch cut and recombined printed photographs, while Kurt Schwitters used printed scraps and everyday fragments in his work.

This mixed-media collage by Kurt Schwitters shows how fragments can become part of a new visual order. Instead of asking only, “What does this picture show?”, also ask, “How do the shapes, edges, letters, colours, and layers behave?”

From Combine to Contemporary Mixed Media

Artists continued to push beyond the flat page. Robert Rauschenberg became known for works that mixed painting with photographs, printed matter, and real objects. His approach shows that artists can cross boundaries between familiar art forms.

As you watch the Tate Kids introduction to Robert Rauschenberg, notice the role of curiosity and unusual materials. The goal is not to copy his work. The goal is to understand how artists can ask, “What else can art be made from?”

Contemporary artists around the world use collage and mixed media for portraits, storytelling, design, social ideas, memory, identity, humour, and abstract composition.

Artist Hanoch Piven is known for portraits made with unexpected objects and mixed materials. A workshop setting reminds us that collage can also be social: people can create, compare choices, share materials, and discuss how objects gain new meanings in art.

Elements of Art in Collage

Shape

A shape is a flat enclosed area. Geometric shapes include squares, circles, triangles, and rectangles. Organic shapes are irregular and may remind you of plants, clouds, stones, splashes, or living things.

In collage, you can make shapes by cutting, tearing, folding, or tracing. Repeating a shape creates rhythm. Changing the size of a repeated shape creates variety.

Colour

Colour can organize a collage before the viewer even understands the subject. A limited palette of three or four main colours can make many different materials feel connected. Complementary colours can create strong contrast, while related colours can create harmony.

You can also use colour to show mood. Warm reds, oranges, and yellows may feel lively or bright. Cool blues, greens, and violets may feel calm, distant, or mysterious. These are common effects, not strict rules; your own context and idea matter.

Texture

Actual texture is how a surface really feels. Fabric may be soft, foil may be smooth, and corrugated cardboard may be ridged. Visual texture is the look of texture on a flat surface, such as a photograph of stone or a pencil rubbing.

Texture becomes especially powerful in mixed media because you can combine both real and drawn textures in one artwork.

Line

A line can divide areas, connect shapes, show movement, or add detail. You can draw lines with pencil, marker, paint, thread, strips of paper, or even the edge of a torn shape.

Try using thick and thin lines together. A thick line may feel bold and strong, while a thin line may feel delicate or detailed.

Value

Value means how light or dark something is. Strong light-dark differences can make a focal point easy to find. If every part of a collage has the same value, the image may feel flat or busy.

A simple test is to squint at your artwork from a distance. Do the light and dark areas still create a clear pattern?

Principles of Design

Emphasis and Focal Point

Emphasis gives one part of an artwork extra importance. The place that attracts attention first is often called the focal point. You can create a focal point by using a large shape, strong colour contrast, unusual texture, a face, a sharp edge, or an area with more detail.

Do not make every part equally loud. If everything demands attention, the viewer may not know where to look.

Balance

Balance is the feeling that visual weight is arranged in a satisfying way. Symmetrical balance places similar visual weight on both sides. Asymmetrical balance uses different shapes, colours, or textures that still feel stable together.

For example, one large dark shape on the left might balance several small bright shapes on the right.

Rhythm, Repetition, and Movement

Repeating shapes, colours, marks, or textures can create rhythm. Changing the spacing or size of repeated parts can make the rhythm feel faster or slower. Diagonal shapes often suggest movement, while horizontal shapes may feel calmer.

Your viewer's eye should have a path to follow. Repetition can help guide that path.

Unity and Variety

Unity means the artwork feels connected as one whole. Variety keeps it interesting. Too much unity can become boring; too much variety can become confusing. Artists often create unity through repeated colours or shapes and variety through changing texture, size, or direction.

Techniques You Can Try

Cutting and Tearing

Use cutting when you want clean, planned edges. Use tearing when you want a rough, soft, natural, or energetic edge. You can combine both in one artwork.

Try tearing paper toward yourself and away from yourself. Different papers reveal different edges and layers.

Layering and Transparency

Layering makes an artwork richer. Tissue paper, tracing paper, thin printed pages, and transparent paint can allow lower layers to remain visible. This creates depth and lets two images interact.

Before gluing, hold transparent materials over different backgrounds and observe how their colour or pattern changes.

Rubbing, Stamping, and Printing

A rubbing can capture the texture of a safe surface by placing paper over it and moving the side of a crayon or soft pencil across the paper. A stamp can repeat a shape using paint. Simple printing can be done with textured cardboard, foam shapes, sponges, leaves, or other teacher-approved materials.

Never make rubbings on fragile, historic, dirty, sharp, or private surfaces. Ask permission first.

Drawing and Painting Over Collage

After paper pieces are attached, drawing can connect separate shapes. Paint can soften an edge, change a colour, create shadows, or add a new layer. A white pencil or paint marker can be especially visible over dark paper.

You can also work in the opposite order: paint first, then collage over the dry surface.

Text as Image

Letters and words can become visual material. A headline might be used for its meaning, its shape, or both. Large letters can create rhythm, and tiny text can create texture.

When using text from magazines or packaging, think about the message. Words can change how a viewer understands an image.

Safe and Responsible Studio Practice

Use scissors carefully, pass them handle-first, and keep your free hand away from the cutting path. Use only school-safe glue and art materials. Do not use sharp metal, broken glass, rusty objects, unknown powders, strong solvents, or materials that may contain food residue or allergens.

Found materials should be clean, dry, lightweight, and approved by your teacher. Keep small objects away from younger children. Wash your hands after working with shared or recycled materials.

Protect tables with scrap paper or mats. Use only the amount of glue you need. Too much glue can wrinkle paper and make drying slow.

Planning a Successful Artwork

A good collage often begins before the glue is opened.

Idea: Choose a subject, feeling, story, place, memory, or abstract idea.
Collection: Gather a small set of useful materials that fit the idea.
Sorting: Group materials by colour, texture, size, or meaning.
Sketch: Make one or two tiny thumbnail plans.
Arrangement: Move pieces without gluing and test different compositions.
Focal point: Decide what the viewer should notice first.
Layering: Build from large background pieces toward smaller details.
Attachment: Glue carefully from the centre outward and smooth pieces gently.
Details: Add drawing, paint, printed marks, or text only where they improve the image.
Reflection: Step back, look from a distance, and explain what works.

The Three-Arrangement Challenge

Before gluing a major project, make three different arrangements using the same set of five to eight shapes. Photograph or sketch each arrangement. Compare them for balance, focal point, movement, and negative space. Then choose the version that best matches your idea.

This small challenge teaches an important artistic habit: the first solution is not always the strongest one.

Looking at Art Like an Artist

When you study a collage or mixed-media work, begin with evidence. Say what you can actually see before you guess what it means.

Use this sequence:

Describe: Name materials, colours, shapes, lines, textures, and objects you can see.
Analyze: Explain how the parts are arranged and where your eye travels.
Interpret: Suggest a meaning, mood, story, or idea and support it with visual evidence.
Evaluate: Judge how successfully the choices support the artist's purpose.

Avoid saying only “I like it” or “I don't like it.” Add a reason: “The repeated red circles create movement,” or “The rough torn edges make the scene feel energetic.”

Artists and Approaches to Explore

Juan Gris can help you study how printed papers, drawing, and painting can share a Cubist composition. Hannah Höch is important for photomontage and surprising combinations of photographic fragments. Kurt Schwitters shows how everyday printed scraps can become abstract visual material. Robert Rauschenberg expanded mixed-media practice by combining painting, print, photography, and objects.

Henri Matisse is also useful for studying cut-paper shape and colour. His later paper cut-outs were made from painted paper cut into bold shapes and arranged into compositions.

The Tate Kids video about Matisse can help you focus on shape, colour, scale, and arrangement. Think about how a simple cut shape can become expressive when repeated or placed beside a contrasting colour.

This National Gallery of Art activity uses collage to explore the colour and repeated shapes associated with Alma Thomas. It is a useful reminder that collage can help you investigate ideas from painting without simply copying a painting.

Sustainable and Ethical Choices

Collage is a good place to think about materials. Reusing clean paper, cardboard, packaging, maps, envelopes, and offcuts can reduce waste and give your artwork interesting surfaces. However, not every old object should be used. Do not cut valuable books, family photographs, important documents, borrowed materials, or objects that belong to someone else.

Digital images and printed photographs also have creators. If you plan to publish your collage online, learn about copyright, Creative Commons, and the public domain. For school practice, your teacher can help you choose images that you are allowed to reuse.

A responsible artist asks: Where did this material come from? Do I have permission to use it? Is it safe? Could it be reused instead of thrown away?

Collaborative Collage

Collage can be made by a group. A class might create one long landscape, a map of the local area, a shared alphabet of textures, or a wall-sized abstract composition.

To make collaboration fair, agree on a few rules before starting. Decide the theme, size limits, colour choices, and how people will add pieces. Leave room for others. Ask before covering another person's work. Discuss changes instead of making them secretly.

Collaboration is not only about dividing the labour. It is about listening, negotiating, combining ideas, and making one visual result from many contributions.

Interactive Tasks

Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

What best describes a collage? (An artwork made by attaching different pieces to a surface) (!An artwork made only with one pencil) (!A sculpture carved from one block of stone) (!A photograph that has never been changed)

What does mixed media mean in art? (Using more than one material or art process) (!Using only black and white colours) (!Making the same picture many times) (!Working without any planning)

What usually happens when one shape overlaps another? (The covered shape can appear farther back) (!Both shapes always disappear) (!The shapes become exactly the same size) (!The background automatically becomes darker)

Which choice creates actual texture? (Adding a piece of corrugated cardboard) (!Drawing the word rough) (!Thinking about a smooth stone) (!Naming three colours)

What is a focal point? (The area that attracts attention first) (!The glue used under the paper) (!The empty box where scraps are stored) (!The back side of every artwork)

Which action is best before gluing a collage? (Test several arrangements of the pieces) (!Glue every piece immediately) (!Cut every piece into the same shape) (!Cover all negative space automatically)

What is photomontage mainly built from? (Photographic images or parts of photographs) (!Only clay and wire) (!Only watercolour paint) (!Only folded cardboard)

Which choice is safest for a school mixed-media project? (Clean lightweight materials approved by the teacher) (!Broken glass found outdoors) (!Rusty metal with sharp edges) (!Unknown powder from a garage)

How can repetition help a composition? (It can create rhythm and guide the viewer's eye) (!It always makes the artwork symmetrical) (!It removes all contrast from the artwork) (!It guarantees that every shape is realistic)

Why might an artist use a limited colour palette? (To help different materials feel connected) (!To make texture impossible) (!To remove every focal point) (!To stop shapes from overlapping)

Memory Game

Collage	Artwork made by attaching pieces to a surface
Texture	Surface quality that can be felt or suggested visually
Layering	Placing one material over another
Contrast	Strong difference between visual elements
Photomontage	Collage made mainly from photographic images
Assemblage	Three-dimensional art made by combining objects
Focalpoint	Area designed to attract attention first

Drag and Drop

Match the correct terms.	Topic
Torn edge	Rough energetic boundary
Cut edge	Clean controlled boundary
Negative space	Area around and between main shapes
Repetition	Reuse of visual elements to create rhythm
Transparency	Quality that lets lower layers remain visible

...

Crossword Puzzle

Collage	What art form joins separate pieces on a surface?
Texture	What word describes how a surface feels or appears to feel?
Contrast	What principle describes a strong visual difference?
Layering	What technique places one material over another?
Assemblage	What three-dimensional art form combines found objects?
Composition	What word means the arrangement of visual parts in an artwork?

LearningApps

Cloze Text

A collage is created by attaching separate

to a surface. Mixed-media art combines more than one material or

. Moving pieces before gluing helps you test the

. One shape covering another creates a clue called

. A rough or smooth surface quality is called

. The area that attracts attention first is the

. Repeated shapes or colours can create visual

. Empty areas around important shapes are called

. Clean recycled materials can add variety while reducing

. Before publishing reused images, artists should think about permission and

.

Open-Ended Tasks

Easy

Texture Hunt: Collect or sketch eight safe textures you can find at home or school, then group them as smooth, rough, soft, hard, shiny, or patterned and explain which two would create the strongest contrast.
Torn Paper Landscape: Create a small landscape using only torn paper and glue, then add one drawn line that guides the viewer from the foreground to the background.
Colour Mood Collage: Choose a mood and make a collage with a limited palette of three main colours, then write three sentences explaining how the colours support the mood.
Shape Creature: Build an imaginary creature from at least six geometric and organic paper shapes, keeping some negative space visible around the creature.

Standard

Mixed-Media Self-Portrait: Make a self-portrait using drawing plus at least two attached materials; include objects, words, colours, or textures that communicate something about your interests without using private information.
Recycled Material Poster: Design a poster about reducing waste using clean packaging, paper scraps, drawn lettering, and one printed or stamped texture; make the main message readable from across the room.
Interview an Artist: Interview a local artist, designer, craftsperson, teacher, or creative family member about how they choose materials; record five questions and summarize three useful ideas you learned.
Collage Process Video: Create a short video that shows three stages of your collage process—planning, arranging, and finishing—and add spoken or written explanations of one change you made and why.

Advanced

Photomontage Story: Create a photomontage that tells a clear story using appropriately licensed or self-made photographs; write a short artist statement identifying the focal point and two choices that support the story.
Community Texture Map: Visit a safe local place with an adult or class, document textures through sketches or permitted photographs, and use them to build a mixed-media map that shows both location and atmosphere.
Material Experiment Lab: Test at least four combinations of paper, drawing tools, paint, fabric, rubbing, or printing on small sample cards; compare which materials layer well and use your best discovery in a final abstract composition.
Curate a Mini Exhibition: Create or select three original collages, arrange them as a small exhibition, write labels for each work, and produce a one-minute audio or video guide explaining how the works connect through a shared theme.

Learning Assessment

Composition Analysis: Compare two collages and explain which one has the clearer focal point, using at least three pieces of visual evidence about size, contrast, placement, or texture.
Material Choice Challenge: Given the idea “stormy weather,” choose four suitable collage or mixed-media materials and justify how the physical or visual qualities of each material would support the idea.
Design Revision: Photograph or sketch an early version of your artwork, make one purposeful change to improve balance, movement, or negative space, and explain why the revision is stronger.
Technique Transfer: Apply a technique learned in collage, such as layering or repetition, to another subject such as a science diagram, book-cover design, or history poster, and explain how the technique helps communication.
Ethical Reuse Decision: Examine a set of possible source materials and decide which are safe and appropriate to reuse, which require permission, and which should not be used; support each decision with a reason.
Artist Statement: Write a short statement that explains your idea, identifies your main materials, describes one challenge you solved, and points to two visual choices that help the viewer understand the work.

Evidence of Learning

Important evidence of learning can include:

Knowledge: You can explain collage, mixed media, photomontage, assemblage, texture, layering, contrast, negative space, focal point, balance, rhythm, unity, and variety in your own words.
Observation: You can describe materials and visual choices in an artwork before making an interpretation.
Making skills: You can cut or tear safely, test arrangements, attach materials neatly, create layers, combine textures, and add drawing or paint with control.
Design thinking: You can develop more than one arrangement, choose a focal point, revise a composition, and explain why you changed it.
Creative product: You can produce an original collage or mixed-media artwork in which the materials support a clear idea, mood, story, or abstract design.
Communication: You can discuss your process, write an artist statement, and give specific, respectful feedback using art vocabulary.
Responsibility: You can select safe materials, reduce waste when possible, respect ownership, and consider permission when reusing images.
Transfer: You can apply collage ideas such as layering, contrast, visual hierarchy, or repetition to another subject, design task, or communication problem.

OERs on the Topic

The following English Wikipedia articles provide open background reading. Use them with a teacher or adult if a section is more advanced than you need.

Linked Learning Areas

Collage and mixed media connect art-making with design, language, history, environmental learning, media literacy, and communication. The table below links important learning areas that can help you extend the topic.

Collage and Mixed Media

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