Our Natural World - FRAME project

Nature All Around Me

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts activity

Louise Giroux, Educational Programs Officer – Wellness, invites you on an exploration of an artwork in our collection, followed by a creative workshop. Let your senses take you on a discovery of this work. Then, explore your environment to make a drawing using the rubbing technique.

While specially designed for a neurodiverse audience,this is a great activity for everyone. It can be done independently or with adult assistance.

Ludger Larose (Montreal 1868-1915), Flower Composition with Figure, Logan Greenhouse, 1899, Oil on canvas, 95.4 x 78.3 cm. Purchase, Marcel Boisvert Bequest and Horsley and Annie Townsend Bequest.

Nature All Around Me

Ludger Larose, Flower Composition with Figure, Logan Greenhouse, 1899. Purchase, Marcel Boisvert Bequest and Horsley and Annie Townsend Bequest, inv. 2007.103

Gather the necessary materials.

You will need three things to perform the rubbing technique: various surfaces to be rubbed, sheets of paper, and colouring utensils of your choice.

Using the Larose painting as inspiration, explore your environment for things you can use to experiment with rubbing. Choose objects in your house, in your yard, in the park or in nature. Place a sheet of paper on a chosen rubbing surface. Lightly rub the paper with your crayon or marker to produce a print of the surface. Vary the elements, textures, surfaces and colours to create a beautiful composition.

Cut out the shapes that will make up the elements of your composition.

Compose your image. Explore different possibilities by moving the shapes around according to your inspiration. Using a bit of glue or tape, attach your elements to a sheet of paper to complete your image. And there you go!

Learn more

At the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, this work by Ludger Larose has inspired many people, as evidenced by our digital content and our EducArt platform.

En savoir plus sur le quartier La Fontaine

View of one of the Quebec and Canadian art galleries in the Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley

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