Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1264355
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JUNE 2020 6 ART A dash of colour to ease lockdown woes Inspirations and Beginnings "The project was inspired by a Face- book post by artist Stephanie Borg, who placed several coloured entries of a motif side by side. I found the visual effect of the photo very strong and in- dividual, and then thought about how to enlarge this project so that more artists and users benefit from it. "I didn't want to ask the artists for anything without anything in return, so I came up with the idea of using the cottonera.info website to feature all of the participating artists there. At the same time, I thought that it would be very attractive for the visitor if many artists who normally work with dif- ferent media are brought together on one page and that the diversity of their painting style is all represented in the same medium, that is, a colouring page." Connected through Cottonera "I have been working on the www. cottonera.info website for around two years now. The site was set up to help foreign residents integrate into the Cottonera community, offering Mal- tese language courses, translations of local council announcements, and so on. Through it we also organise events for expats and work on projects in which foreign residents have the op- portunity to take part in local events. "We encourage foreign residents to participate in cultural activities, work with the Bormla, Isla and Kalkara councils and organise monthly meet- ings in English with the Cottonera councils. To better understand Mal- tese traditions and culture, we give Maltese artists from Cottonera the opportunity to present themselves and their art. It is for this reason that I did an ex- tensive research about artists in the Cottonera. It took us around a year to collect all of the relevant information on artists, and since the end of 2019 I've begun to programme websites for various artists. "Due to the fallout of COVID-19, the website had to be redesigned as quickly as possible to respond to the situation, but I'm really happy with the response we received from users. Since our offer is available online, coloured drawings from all parts of the world reach us. Even though most of the colouring re- sults come from Malta, we already had entries from the Netherlands, Germa- ny, Poland, USA, Australia and Japan. The Maltese motifs are particularly popular in Australia and the USA." Colouring is for everyone "Most people think colouring is easy, and not for adults. But the color ar- rangement, line style, color thickness and intensity can change a motif a lot. There has been a market for colouring pages, especially for adults, for dec- ades. For many people, this is a hob- by that is very contemplative and has a positive effect on mental health. So the idea seemed perfect to offer some- thing that everyone can do at home without any previous knowledge and regardless of their age. Something for distraction, relaxation, something that can be fun and enjoyable and some- thing that can be practiced alone or together." For more information on the project, log on to: www.cottonera.info/color-up Berlin-born artist Tom Frank speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about the 'ColourUp Malta' project he kickstarted through the cottonera.info online portal, which has now amassed a hundred artists contributing their own black and white impressions of Maltese scenes, ready to be printed out and coloured to ease COVID-stress