Workshop on paper colouring
2025.05.28
EBRU
30 May 2025 (Friday), 2:00 pm, Atelier 404, New Academic Building
National Academy of Art, 1 Shipka Street, Sofia
The second in the series of creative workshops dedicated to the art of paper colouring organised by the Department of Poster and Visual Communication, is EBRU. The method has many varieties in Asia and Europe, but perhaps the subtlety and its high point is precisely in this technique of Near Eastern origin, which is the subject of this workshop.
Ebru (water surface) is an ancient method of painting on water. Natural pigments dissolved in water are spread with horsehair brushes, awls and combs. The paints are treated with ox bile so that they do not sink. The solution on which “painting” is made is water thickened with vegetable resin (kitre). The shapes are achieved by pushing and pulling. Then the drawing is “printed” and left to dry. The effect of the “dance of colours” on the surface of the water is impressive and unforgettable, and provides guidelines for further creative searches in the field. The finished sheets can be used for binding books, designing calligraphy, and in the past, for designing governmental documents. Ebru is a sophisticated and capricious technique, which, however, once mastered, pays off with impressive and unique works.
Within 3 hours, students will acquire theoretical and practical knowledge about Ebru. Places for the practical part of the workshop are limited to the first ten participants; the others can attend as observers and subsequently apply what they have learned in realising their creative ideas related to the presented technique.
The creative workshop will led by Anzhela Minkova, an alumna of the National Academy of Art, an artist with versatile interests and a large number of creative works in various fields of fine arts.
The project "Creative Workshops on Paper Colouring" is implemented within the framework of the 2025 Competition for Funding Projects on the Scientific Research and Artistic Activities at the National Academy of Art.