Inspired by the practice of Tyeb Mehta, this workshop explores charcoal as a medium of reduction, tension, and process. The session focuses on how minimal elements such as line, tonal variation, and pressure can be used to construct expressive compositions.

Participants will work with charcoal to explore mark-making, smudging, and erasure to understand how forms can be simplified and shaped through tonal relationships rather than detail.   

The workshop focuses on drawing the human figure through weight and gesture, rather than trying to make it look realistic. Participants will also learn how to compose an image using diagonals and light and shadow, and will practice building up drawings by adding, changing, and reworking marks over time.

Designed for children and adults, the session encourages an open approach to drawing that values process, ambiguity, and structural clarity and offers a deeper understanding of how images can emerge through reduction and transformation.

While you’re here, we invite you to also explore KNMA’s ongoing exhibition TYEB MEHTA Bearing Weight (with the lightness of being)