Workshop: COLOURSCAPES

COLOURSCAPES

Exploring colour and environment through walking and creative reflection of collage

This workshop combines the restorative power of walking with observation and creative exploration.

The workshop is part of the Exhibition Collective Roots: Innerscapes of Healing, curated by Ineke Vera De Soete and on view at PLEK Brussels until 21 September 2025.

About the Workshop

After a brief introduction to colour and the ways of mapping one’s surroundings, we will head towards the Botanical Garden of Brussels, which is only a short walk away from the workshop venue.

Like Baudelaire’s flâneur, we will observe the atmosphere of the city around us, the nature within the built environment, recording and noting colours, shapes, textures, patterns and sounds.

Back at the venue, after a short introduction to colour matching and colour choices, we will use the collected materials, notes and records to create individual colour palettes with the help of coloured paper. We will talk about observed colours and colours of memory.

In the last part of the workshop, we will delve into colour composition and explore colour as a catalyst, expressing emotions and feelings through the interplay of colour, shape, and texture, creating an abstract collage.

Work in progress

We will close the workshop with a discussion about impressions and reflections gained, and explore the work of those who wish to show it (not compulsory).

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for anyone who wishes to explore their surroundings in a new way and express their reflections and emotions in a creative way, combining the healing power of walking with abstract collage. No art experience necessary.

“You don’t need to be a creative to do something creative.”

Materials

All materials and tools are provided, including coloured papers, pencils, markers, papers for final colour compositions, tools for colour mapping and notation, glue, scissors, paper cutters, cutting boards and rulers.

Participants are free to bring their own tools and materials, if they wish. A small sketchbook can be useful, but not necessary; paper will be provided.

Bring a bottle of water to have with you during a walk.

Registration

Workshop registration closes on 12 September at 14:00.

The maximum number of participants is 10.

On Walking and Creative Expression

Walking, a fundamental human movement, is uniquely accessible and profoundly impactful for health and well-being.

Extensive research shows its benefits across physical, mental, and cognitive domains. Regular walking significantly improves cardiovascular and metabolic health, aids in weight management, musculoskeletal strength and contributes to increased longevity.

Immersion in nature, even in an urban environment, helps to reduce stress, strengthen the immune system and improve sleep quality.

Research also shows that creative expression helps regulate stress, strengthen neural connections, and activate brain systems involved in movement, emotion, memory, and learning.

Involvement in the arts can protect against such problems as anxiety and depression, heart disease and cognitive decline.

Art in all its forms - whether creating or simply experiencing it - can have a huge impact on our health. -Arts + Mind Lab, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics

About

The workshop is led by Maja Kaurin, a multidisciplinary designer active in architectural, interior and colour design, creating environments that tell a story, communicate, and enhance well-being through their strategic use of colour.

She explores colour mapping as a method of understanding the atmosphere of a place, developing colour narratives.

She holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Zagreb and an MSc in Colour Dynamics (Environmental Colour Design) from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. She is vice-president of ICA-Belgium (Interdisciplinary Colour Association Belgium) and a member of the AIC Study Group on Environmental Colour Design and the AIC Study Group on Colour Education.

She lives in Brussels, Belgium and works internationally.

@colorspotter / https://colorspotter.substack.com / LinkedIn

A personal story of colour walks, reflective collage and healing

In her work with colour in architecture and environmental colour design, Maja often uses colour mapping to define colour in urban or natural environments, and collage is often part of her design process.

But when she suddenly developed atrial fibrillation (arrhythmia), she found herself extremely exhausted, sometimes unable to complete everyday tasks. As she waited for the surgery, she started making slow walks around her neighbourhood in Brussels to build back strength, help her deal with the condition, and clear her head of too many thoughts.

As she started rediscovering her neighbourhood, she kept collecting colours, in her sketchbook or with a camera. Those impressions of colour atmospheres all held a story of a place, a moment in time, and her emotions reflected through them.

With those collected colours, she started creating reflective collages she calls Colourscapes. As she went through the recovery after the surgery, those daily walks with colours have helped her get better and stronger, one day, one walk at a time.

Colourscapes became reflections of the space around her and the space within her, in search of her lost rhythm.

Some of her Colourscapes mixed-media collages are part of the group exhibition Collective Roots: Innerscapes of Healing, curated by Ineke Vera De Soete and on view at PLEK Brussels until 21 September 2025.