Live, work, and render in Lisbon.
The Vovó Residency is a 30-day program for ceramics artists who want to use the wheel, the kiln, and the making process as tools for a deeper inquiry — into identity, land, and family. A month to translate what came before you, through clay, fire, and the stories your ancestors carried.
*Applications will be available at the beginning of October.
WHO IS THIS FOR?
A woman artist on a personal journey.
*Cisgender women, transgender women, and gender queer people assigned female at birth all invited to apply.
You are a ceramics artist — or a maker with ceramics experience — who wants to use the practice as a way of exploring your ancestral history, family stories, or cultural identity.
You are curious about where your family came from — the land, the stories, the materials — and you want to make work that holds that inquiry.
You may be new to this kind of conceptual work. You don’t need to have done it before. Our coaching includes support with foraging before you come, oral history recording, narrative design, and translating memory into form.
You are excited about bringing materials — mud, ash, sand — from places that matter to you and your family, and to experiment with incorporating them into your ceramics practice.
You are ready to show your work. The residency ends with a solo exhibition, and we will support every resident to build toward it with intention.
WHAT’S INCLUDED?
Everything you need to deepen your work.
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A newly renovated one-bedroom, fully furnished in Santos-o-Velho. Directly above the Vovó studio. Utilities, Wifi, and cable included.
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A wheel, tools, glazes, and unlimited space in an electric kiln. You will be able to experiment with new materials as you design your final exhibit. You’ll join a small community of ceramics artists living in Lisbon. You’ll be expected to buy your own clay.
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30 hours of one-on-one support as you explore Korean and European throwing techniques, material testing, interpretation of oral history, and exhibition design.
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You’ll have a guaranteed three-day solo show in the Vovó shop and gallery at the end of your residency. Your weekend will begin with an opening night surrounded by the Lisbon creative community. You will be able to keep all proceeds minus a 20% commission.
WHAT TO BRING?
The earth you come from.
Before you arrive, we ask you to forage. Go to the places that shaped you or your family — a riverbank, a field, a hillside, a grandparent’s garden. Collect what you find. Speak to family members and journal so that you have stories to inspire you. Make copies of pictures. The materials and stories you bring become the starting point for your practice in Lisbon.
— Foraged mud or clay from your landscape
—Sand from a significant place
— Family photographs or documents
— Objects that carry memory
—Leaves and other organic materials
— Wood ash or rice ash
— Recorded or written family stories
— An open question you want to answer
THE COST
One price. Everything included.
OCT – APR
€4,600
MAY-SEP
€5,100
*Prices for 30 day residency. VAT included. Residents buy their own food and clay.
✓ 30 days in a private, renovated apartment in Santos-o-Velho, Lisbon
✓ 160 hours studio access (wheel, tools, glazes)
✓ All kiln firings included
✓ Support with meaning making as you sort through your family’s history
✓ 30 hours of one-on-one coaching to develop new materials and designs
✓ Guaranteed solo exhibition in central Lisbon. Artist will retain proceeds minus 20% commission.
*Applications will be available at the beginning of October.
Your host.
Angela Irvine Silveira makes ceramics in her Lisbon studio. Her journey as a ceramics artist started 20 years ago in California and is now based in Portugal as she explores the history and natural environment experienced by her family within the Azorean diaspora.* She has always had a strong identity as an Azorean and Portuguese woman, but started a deeper examination of her family’s history after visiting the island of Pico for the first time ten years ago. Seeking a way to make more conceptual pieces, Angela began to take masterclasses around the world to find ways that she could render the spirit of the places her ancestors are from.
Angela has studied ceramics with many masters including Kwak Kyung Tae, David Trueb, Ayse Habibe Kucuk, Tom Kemp, Tinne Debruijne, and Luigi Pullini. Her work combines foraged materials, traditional Korean and European wheel throwing, manipulation of thrown pieces, hand building techniques, and wood and electric firing,
* The Azores Islands are an archipelago of nine islands sitting 1400 km to the west of Portugal. Angela’s family comes from Pico and São Jorge Islands, which, along with Faial, are the center three islands.
