Designing Matters in Portugal

Terciera Museum

Azores: Azulejos.  Blue and white tiles – what more can I say?  Introduced by the Moors in the 15^th c this popular form of decorating both internal and external walls is still popular today.  Rather than explain the history of azulejos, you best check out wiki.   These are just a few of the ones we saw during our stay in the Azores.  I would have happily replaced tonnes of lead ballast with tile, but sadly the captain reneged on this plan. 

Cascais: Paving.  We were taken by traditional pavings of basalt and limestone pieces meticulously set by craftsmen in amazing designs.  Of course, these artistic pavements are not limited to the narrow streets of old town Cascais. We first made their acquaintance in the Azores.  Ships and sea motifs are quite common in this art that has been practised long before Greek and Roman times.

This is Horta in the Azores.  Cascais had similar pavings

Lisbon: Manueline Architecture (1490-1520).  Who could not be attracted to the excesses of Manueline style?  Elaborate, rich, excessive are terms that slip easily off the tongue when describing this mix of Renaissance & Gothic motifs.  Lisbon of course, is the centre of excellence when it comes to definitive examples of this fine style.

Sines: Roman Ruins.  Although more famous as the birthplace of Vasco da Gama, one of the first to make incredible and slow voyage to India, Sines has hidden treasures inside the medieval district that predate this event.  We’re talking fragments of nearby Roman settlements.  These pieces, 2000 years old, can be found in their compact Archaeological Museum of course.  Romans were the wanderlusts of their time and they build fine cities with many functional and beautiful features.  Nearby, an excavated Mirobriga stands as a testament to these skills.  Interestingly, Sines claims even earlier Iron Age settlements.  As we sat on the beach near our anchorage, sipping our evening “sundowners” and contemplating the meaning of life, we wondered how many others before us had walked on the sand and sailed its seas.  A quiet moment for some almost mind-bending reflection…. 

Old Portimao

Portimao: Photo Marathon.  

The Portimao Museum had organised a Photo Marathon Competition (2011) and on our visit we were fortunate to see the creative results.  Firstly there were 2 categories – Underwater (serious underwater camera work) and Digital.  Each category was then broken down into a series of themes to which the entrants had to produce 3 A4 sized photos.  Digital for example, had 8 themes and therefore needed to produce 24 photos.  These photos were simply mounted on card (no frames) and exhibited in theme order. 

Ceramics on exhibition at
the Portimao Museum 2011

Seeing them made me understand why the winner had been chosen.  His work was essentially the tightest – all photos were portrait, all perfect close-ups that complemented each other, of subjects that spoke clearly of each theme yet related well as a whole.  The colours were bold and dramatic subject lighting was well balanced throughout.  In this way the whole worked as a complete presentation, flowing well as a design, almost mosaic like in quality, which fitted the surrounding old city (and its pavings).

Being a quilter I got a little caught up in this project.  A big part of working in textiles is taking the time to stand back, balancing the “pieces” or blocks into a well-balanced whole.  

So, I learned quite a lot about the value of working in series; imagining connections between a single work, a series or indeed of a larger body of work – just like an artistic mind map.  Fascinating. I sadly don’t have any photos of these photographic works at the Museum so I’ve included some general ones around Portimao instead.

Could that be a fishing boat?  Arade River, Portimao