Rather than upload all my writing to IdeasTap, my portfolio of writing can be found on my Wordpress blog here: www.laurajanemaw.wordpress.com

On entering I am instantly reminded of the year one classroom my mother taught in. Closer examination of the pieces in frames results in a wave of nostalgia: the slightly shaky scissor cutting, the flaps of paper not quite glued down properly and the huge sheets of pastel-coloured sugar paper taking over the tables. Matisse’s cut outs indisputably revert to an innocent kind of creativity – and are a world away from his earlier works. Completed in the last years of his life, the works embrace the playful, inventive and experimental side of art so often forgotten in favour of excess, complexity and, above all, seriousness. The cut outs are unbelievably refreshing. There’s something incredibly therapeutic about sticking paper onto paper. I think back to art classes on Friday afternoons after a full day of science, maths and English, and think about the comfort in creating collages on paper. When I was younger, I filled numerous scrapbooks at my grandparents’ house with magazine cut outs, whiling away afternoons at the living room table with scissors and a stack of magazines. It feels inherently childish and inherently unrestricted – and these are the sentiments communicated by Matisse. The pieces are...