Spotlight on Maker: Teresa Almeida

Mini introduction on who you are, where you are from and what you do.

My name is Teresa Almeida, and I an artist working mainly with glass living in Porto, Portugal. I am professor at Fine Art Faculty, Porto University (FBAUP), since 2009, and I am a researcher at Unit I&D “Glass and ceramics for the arts” (VICARTE), FCT/UNL and FBA/UL where I did my PhD and my Post-doctoral. In 2003, I completed my Master in Glass at the University of Sunderland, England, and in 2001-2002 with a scholarship from Portugal I got two post-graduation certificates on “Glass and Architecture” and in “Glass and Fine Art” at Central Saint Martin’s College, London, England. In 1996/2001 I completed a BA (HONS) on the Faculty of Fine Art, Porto University in Fine Art Painting. In 2011 I became part of the i2ADS Research Institute in Art, Design and Society, Faculty of Fine Art, Oporto University.

With a short introduction of myself I participated in several international exhibitions: Holland (GlashArt 2009), Luxembourg (Glass Connections 2010), Belgium (Gassrout), USA (Pratt Fine Art Gallery, Seattle, 2011), U.K,(Vetrospective 2003) Hong Kong (Tangents and Dispersons 2004) Denmark (European Glass Context, 2008), Ukraine (L’viv Museum 2007), Brazil (Vidro [arte] Luminescência , Sao Paulo, 2011 and Vidro Contemporâneo Brasileiro Nacional Museum UFRJ Rio de Janeiro, 2013), Australia (Projections, 2013), Italy (Within light/ inside glass, Venice, 2015), Sweden and Finland (Dialogues with Light and colour , 2016, 2017) and Portugal. Also, I organise, and curate exhibitions Glass seen through feminine eyes, Marinha Grande, 2013/14, Specularis-looking through, Alberto Sampaio Museum 2018, Guimarães among others. I lecture in international conferences, in some invited, others part of the organisation and scientific committee, and others part of the technical program committee. I lecture and give workshops internationally. When starting my PhD research, I got a scholarship from Pilchuck Glass School, and The Studio of Corning Museum of Glass to go to America and study glass, this was crucial for the developing of my artistic concept, It allow me to extend my knowledge, not only technical, but also conceptual. My work was been publish in international journals and is display in public and private places.

I have several awards, such as, 2013 Prémio Femina; in 2009: “Honourable Mention, Jutta Cuny Franz Memorial Award”, Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2010 and 2008 an Honourable Mention at Biennial of Artes Plásticas Marinha Grande; and in 2001 several awards: “Arte Contemporânea Municipal de Vila Verde” in the Biennial of Vila Verde, annual competition of draw in Chapin Azul, Porto and Aurélia de Sousa, Porto City hall.

In the last years I dedicate my skills and experience to three (3) main areas – education, artistic and researcher. For me they are connected and inter connected with each other. Within these 3 areas I have my professional development in the 4 (four) matters that will be describe below.

What makes you passionate about your craft/profession?

I selected glass as my matter where I am constantly working. The artist in order to work with glass art should understand the specificities of the material, how it works…

Today, glass art is innovative, open to research and experimentation. The advances in science and the arrival of new aesthetic concepts unlock frontiers and open up a world of possibilities for artists, who, in collaboration with the people of science, study and transform this transparent material. The universe of glass as a material for the realization of art work is vast and promising.

My area of scientific activity and professional development can be characteristic in 4 subjects of study: 1) Contemporary artistic glass: a study of glass as a material for fine arts with aesthetics and theoretical concepts, 2) Art and Science- collaboration between artists and scientists, with a special interest on the Study of luminescent glass and luminescent enamels; 3) Art and Craft. 4) Ecological Art. The concept for my artistic creation and projects.

The 4 fields of interests, area interconnected with each other. It is difficult for one to be consider singular, as I incorporate more than one area. For me instruction is a never-ending process. We are always learning in our life process; it is a continuous training. The determination on resetting the artist role as a reactive force in the craft creation is one of my concerns of my professional work.

When an artist chooses to use a demanding material for the conception of their pieces, interactions between the creative inventions, between constraints and possibilities of the chosen material manifest themselves. I always made a theoretical and practical component of the glass study.

Denis Dutton said that to understand a work of art we must have some idea of the boundaries, equally technical and conventional, within which the artist works (Dutton, 2009).

The light changes the formal composition of the pieces presented with luminescent glass, it alters its surface, colour and shape. This change alteration of light raises the inquisitiveness of the observer: the visualisation of the piece in its two distinct forms, the monochromatic colourless and the lightning colourful. The idea of fragility, created by the glass remains in the appearance of the pieces of art. Nevertheless, my pieces have an extreme interior strength and their fragility is sometimes merely apparent. Similarly, people who have a fragile appearance, a serene and lost look, must not be judged by their character and physical appearance but also by their inner strength, which, sometimes, is highly valuable.

Profiting the particular features of this material, such as transparency, translucence and apparent fragility, the ambition is to create art pieces that reflects these characteristics.

My recent works are concern with the global warming, where large cracks, cavities and holes appear in the frozen mantles. Seeking to raise questions, not only from a technological, aesthetic or ecological awareness point of view, is a personal ambition.

Why does craft matter?

According to Ezra Shales, on his book The Shape of Craft (2017) most crafts are not a solo task. It is extremely difficult for only one artist to be able to make a single glass piece. Engage knowledge on working with a multidisciplinary team of experts on making glass is for me what matters in craft. Craft is in constant need of direction and control and nourishment of all kinds from art. I consider myself as a person who enjoy working with a team, in a collaborative work. The possibility of working also with other collogues from different backgrounds will contribute to visualize diverse perspectives on art and craft approaches.

I truly believe that as a professor I must be in a constant learning process. With the valuable contribution of the craftwork’s artists will progress in their approach towards craft, and in my case, this will be benefit to art students. It will allow me to understand what the new approaches in glass techniques are, how traditional methods can be combined with innovative process, and how this could be introduce in an academic audience.

In an artistic perspective I consider myself not just a craftworker, also an artist, that produce art, with a focus more related to a collective audience, in a way that my work should be available to every person.

My approach as an artist is not merely the lonely person that isolates herself from the surrounding world. I am part of a research Unit where an interface between artist and scientists coexist.

When a demanding material is chosen for the conception of artistic pieces, numerous interactions occur, namely between the creative inventions, the constraints, and the possibilities of the chosen material. The material craft is important for the artistic creation.