A JOURNEY THROUGH PORTUGAL IN CERAMICS

CALÇADA PORTUGUESA

THE FIRST CALÇADA PORTUGUESA WAS MADE IN 1842, AT LISBON’S CENTRAL SQUARE ROSSIO, DEPICTING THE WAVES OF THE NEARBY ATLANTIC OCEAN. THE PORTUGUESE WHERE THUS CONTINUING A MESOPOTAMIAN CRAFT THE GREEKS AND ROMANS HAD BROUGHT TO EUROPE. APART FROM ITS BEAUTY, THIS PAVEMENT IS SUSTAINABLE, ECOLOGICAL, AND VERY RECOGNIZABLE PORTUGUESE — THEY EVEN EXPORTED THEIR STREET ART TO THEIR COLONIES. MOREOVER, THE RAINWATER CAN PENETRATE THE SOIL (WHICH IS NOT THE CASE WITH CONCRETE), AND THE PEBBLES REFLECT THE SUNLIGHT, WHICH MAKES LISBON THE “WHITE CITY”. DESPITE OF ITS BEAUTY THE ART IS ENDANGERED IN ITS EXISTENCE. ONE MAJOR UPHEAVAL IS ITS COST; ANOTHER ONE IS FINDING PEOPLE WHO WANT TO DO IT BECAUSE ALTHOUGH THE JOB IS DEMANDING AND BAD FOR THE BACK, IT IS ALSO VERY POORLY PAID.

CERAMICS AS A CARRIER OF TRADITION AND INNOVATION

CERAMICS ARE A SIGNATURE PORTUGUESE CRAFT, JUST LIKE THE CALÇADA, WITH FAMOUS REPRESENTATIVES RAGING FROM BORDALO PINHEIRO IN THE 19TH CENTURY TO BELA SILVA TODAY. “SPREAD OVER THE COUNTRY THERE ARE SEVERAL HIGH-QUALITY SMALL WORKSHOPS WHERE DEDICATED AND SKILLED ARTISTS AND CRAFT-PEOPLE PRODUCE AMAZING WORK. IN MANY CASES THEY CONTINUE A LONG AND RICH FAMILY TRADITION BESIDES CREATING THEIR OWN WOEK AND PRODUCING FOR OTHER ARTISTS. WHEN I MET PEDRO PACHECO FROM ARTE FACTORY IN A SMALL VILLAGE CALLED NADADOURO, I IMMEDIATELY KNEW I HAD NOT ONLY FOUND A GREAT ARTIST, BUT ALSO AN ALLY IN MY CREATIVE THINKING”, ED RECALLS. “I LEARNED BY DOING”.

CERAMICIST PEDRO PACHECO, FROM ARTE FACTORY

AS AN ARTIST, PEDRO HAS BEEN COMBINING ARTISTIC SKILLS WITH AN EAGERNESS TO EXPLORE INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES. HIS OWN WORK IS WIDELY APPRECIATED, AND MANY OTHER ARTISTS FOUND THEIR WAY TO HIS STUDIO, WHERE BESIDES INDIVIDUAL ARTWORK ALSO ALL TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL MODELING WORK FOR THE CERAMIC INDUSTRY IS BEEN CARRIED OUT. PACHECO IS KNOWN FOR HIS EXCELLENT KNOWLEDGE OF TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS, AND FOR HIS UNDERSTANDING OF ARTISTIC THINKING. THUS, HIS STUDIO ALSO PRODUCES WORK BY MIKI LEAL (SPAIN), CORNELIA MAIER (GERMANY), DAGOBERTO RODRIGUEZ (CUBA), SÓNIA NAVARRO (SPAIN), NOÉ DUCHAUFOUR-LAWRANCE (FRANCE), MEINKE FLESSEMAN (NETHERLANDS), GALÉRIA GARDECO (BELGUM) AND MANY OTHER CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS WHO WORK WITH CERAMICS. EDWARD ENCOUNTERED WITH PEDRO AN EXCELLENT PARTNER TO SHAPE HIS CERAMIC SERIES AND TO EXPERIMENT WITH MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES. IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH HIM, ED CREATED A LIMITED EDITION OF 7 PIECES. PEDRO USED THE FOLLOWING TECHNIQUES FOR ED’S SERIES: “ALL VESSELS ARE MODELED HANDMADE ON THE POTTERY WHEEL. THE VESSELS WITH BLACK STONES WERE FIRST PAINTED ALL BLACK, AFTERWARDS WE CARVED THE WHITE PART OF THE CLAY. IN SOME OTHER PIECES, WE APPLIED A DIFFERENT TECHNIQUE: SCRATCHING THE SURFACE AND APPLYING BLACK CLAY AFTERWARDS. EACH PIECE PASSED TWICE IN THE KILN. IT WAS A GREAT PLEASURE TO WORK WITH ED, AND AT THE STUDIO WE’RE ABSOLUTELY HAPPY WITH THE RESULT OF OUR COLLABORATION”.

INSTAGRAM: ARTEFACTORY_PEDROPACHECO

THE JOURNEY

THERE ARE MANY WAYS OF DISCOVERING A COUNTRY, A CITY, A NEW ENVIRONMENT. LOOSELY INSPIRED BY GUY DEBORD’S DERIVE THEORY, ED WENT WALKING, OR RATHER STROLLING THROUGH LISBON AND PORTUGAL. WITH AN OPEN MIND, ALWAYS READY FOR ENCOUNTERS, EAGER TO LEAND AND SHARE, OPTIMISTIC AS EVER DESPITE THE LIMITATIONS AND DANGERS OF THE PANDEMIC. LISBON BASED BELGIAN AUTHOR (WWW.TODIEFORPORTUGAL.COM, WWW.WALKANDTALKBIO.COM) VEERLE DEVOS RECOGNIZED IN ED A FELLOW FLANEUR AND DECIDED TO FOLLOW HIM ON HIS DISCOVERIES, AND TO WRITE ABOUT HIS JOURNEY.

EDWARD SCHILLING ABOUT PEDRA

“PEDRA IS ‘STONE’ IN PORTUGUESE. I KNEW THIS WOULD HAVE TO BE THE NAME OF MY WORK, BECAUSE OF THE ‘CALÇADA PORTUGUESA’ I HAD FALLEN IN LOVE WITH. I ALSO HAD A CERTAIN IDEA OF WHAT I WANTED, BUT I KNEW VERY LITTLE ABOUT HOW TO PRODUCE IT. NOT REALLY KNOWING HOW THE WHOLE PROCESS WORKS WAS SOMETHING U HAD TO FIND OUT, AND THROUGH THAT PROCESS I ALSO LEARNED A LOT ABOUT THE BACKGROUND OF CERAMICS AS AN IMPORTANT PART OF PORTUGUESE HISTORY. WITH PEDRO I WENT THROUGH A TRIAL-AND-ERROR PHASE, ALSO WHEN IT COMES TO THE SHAPES. CREATING CERAMICS REQUIERES A LOT OF TIME AND ENERGY, AND ONCE IT’S BAKED YOU CAN’T CHANGE ANYTHING ANYMORE. PEDRO WAS EXTREMELY PATIENT WITH ME— ONE CAN FEEL THAT BESIDES BEING A GREAT ARTIST HE’S ALSO A SKILLED CERAMICS PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LISBON. I WANTED TO CREATE SOMETHING OF SCALE, AN ART OBJECT, SOMETHING SUBSTANTIAL, RATHER THAN PLATES OR VASES. EACH OF THE 7 VASSEL IS A BIT DIFFERENT SINCE THEY’RE ALL HANDMADE, EACH TURNED AND CARVED SEPARATELY. THEY’RE GLAZED ON THE INSIDE SO YOU CAN PUT WATER INSIDE. IDEAL FOR THE ENTRY HALL OF YOUR HOUSE OR OFFICE, AS A KEY POSITION ART PIECE”.