Colscritto, or knife-writing (from Ros. coltello and scritto) is a contemporary art movement that originated in La Rossa, characterized by sharp carvings on pieces of usually dark clay. Although the art movement shares many recognizable qualities on the outside, several methods are used to accomplish the traditional black-and-white coloring. While the customary approach sees the firing of clay in environments of low breathable air, which leads to a darkening of coloring on its surface, modern approaches tend to use darker clays enriched in manganese, or the application similarly manganese-colored, black earthware glazes. Carving through the dark surface coating through a process known as sgraffito, the relatively brighter lower layers are revealed. Many artists tend to add additional white coloring to the etchings, in order to increase the contrast.
Heavily associated with Rossan nationalism in the years following the Second Calming, the artstyle evokes the earliest examples of art on the island, most notably the Montesuvian Pottery discovered in 27 TT. The original etchings tend to show simple, stylized depictions of human figures, usually in profile. Although the original artwork found itself on mostly items of practical use, such as jars and pots, the artstyle today has mostly shifted to rectangular clay plates (meant to be hanged on walls, like paintings), with an exclusively decorative purpose in mind. Although most artists within the movement tend to follow the original coloring, some have incorporated differing coloring schemes, ranging in variation from an inverted white-and-black pattern to multicolored designs, with ones utilizing blue (as the background), red (for the human figures) and white (etchings and details) pottery glazes being especially popular, owing to their patriotic symbolism, a theme that has become prevalent as a show of Rossan distinctiveness with the discovery of other nations in the Attu Archipelago.
Colscritto is one of the two major art styles that have arisen following inspiration from the Montesuvian Pottery, alongside linea. Where colscritto takes the form of a multitude of discrete knife strokes across the surface of the pottery, linea attempts to produce its art through the use of one or two continuous lines that span the circumference of the pot. Both may be considered part of the Patriota that has arisen following the Second Calmings, as attempts to establish a shared national identity in contrast with the wider archipelago led artists to draw upon the historical traditions of the island, oftentimes with modern re-imaginings. The Salino art scene, the largest on the island, has produced a number of colscritto artists, including Umberto Buoni, C. Martinetti, and Gloria.
