Frottage Collage
Among the aesthetic experimental courses for primary school pupils, Frottage Collage was developed and implemented by Prof. Hong Su, who has a background in landscape and architecture as well as specialized in education and design. Through haptic experiences, the course intended to help students to observe textures and patterns in the environment.
It was a three-stage session. The first stage was an introductory lecture in the classroom, which gave students a primary understanding of the process and techniques. Secondly, teachers and students would leave the classroom and carry copying and rubbing tools such as cloth and carbon paper, instead of digital recording devices like mobile phones and laptops. Opening their eyes and searching for textures and patterns around them, the students then used their skins and bodies to identify their sensory feelings and integrated them with their previous visual experiences. It took a lot of strength for the students to squat and lean on the floor, to press and to rub the textures. The tactile process, therefore, gave them a strong impression. After getting the imprints on paper, they compared the frottage imprints with the original textures and surprisingly found an interesting relationship between the two.
The result of frottage was not merely the reproduction of the original materials. Back to the classroom stepping into the third stage, the students used the electronic devices to do scanning, image matting, cropping and coloring to extend the imprints to digital formats. The tactile textures were resized, collaged, overlayed and finally turned into visual patterns as new materials for students to create their images and narratives. The image montage broke the limits of the textures and generated new possibilities during the process.