Frottage: Texture & Memory

This workshop introduces participants to frottage, a surrealist technique pioneered by the artist Max Ernst. The process begins by placing paper over varied surfaces and rubbing graphite across them to reveal unexpected textures, patterns, and forms. These emergent impressions then become the starting point for further artistic exploration.

Participants will experiment with water-soluble graphite, charcoal, and paint across a range of materials including paper, fabric, canvas, and natural elements such as plant residue. Through layering and intuitive decision-making, each surface becomes a space for discovery and transformation.

The workshop encourages a hands-on, sensory approach to drawing, where material interaction plays a central role in the creative process. Participants will respond to the textures that emerge, developing them through mark-making, colour, and composition to create unique visual outcomes.

Alongside technical exploration, the workshop invites reflection on how surfaces can hold traces of time, place, and memory. It offers an opportunity to slow down, observe closely, and engage with materials in a more instinctive and experimental way.

By the end of the session, participants will have created a series of works that reflect their personal response to texture, chance, and layered visual storytelling.