A MORNING WITH THE BLACK CLAY OF RIBOLHOS
Saturday, 12 September

Black Clay Workshop (Former Primary School)
Ribolhos (Castro Daire)

Last Saturday, the event “A Morning with the Black Clay of Ribolhos” opened with a guided walk led by potter Jorge Ferreira, taking in several places in the village symbolically linked to pottery.

Following the walking tour, an audiovisual installation by Luís Costa, coordinator of Binaural Nodar, was presented. Titled “A Donkey Tale,” it imagines the relationship between two donkeys—one from the province of Zamora (Spain) and the other from Ribolhos. This work is part of the author’s research within the context of the Doctoral Program in Artistic Creation at the University of Aveiro, in partnership with two research centers: ID+ (Aveiro) and LiDA (ESAD Caldas da Rainha).

In September 2023, the Oficina do Barro Negro was inaugurated in one of the rooms of the former elementary school in the village of Ribolhos (Castro Daire), a space dedicated to showcasing a craft tradition rooted in this small village, located along National Highway No. 2. This space was curated by Marta Carvalhal, Luís Costa, and Jorge Ferreira, in close collaboration with two initiatives of the Portuguese government: the National “Saber Fazer” Program and the National Arts Plan. Since then, Oficina do Barro Negro has hosted a variety of activities, including artist residencies, school workshops, walking tours, temporary exhibitions, and book presentations, through a joint effort by the various organizations that program the space.

In the weeks leading up to the event, artist-in-residence Rita Gomes conducted a research project titled “Justaposição” on the local territory, exploring the encounter between clay and granite—two distinct materials that create a dialogue between what transforms and what remains. Starting with small granite rocks collected in the Montemuro Mountains—rocks that were once part of walls built for pastoral activities—the artist incorporated them into her creations, allowing the clay to mold itself to the stone and, through fire, enabling both materials to form a new relationship. Each piece explored the tension between fragility and resilience, between the delicacy of hand-crafted material and the raw presence of the mountainous landscape, affirming juxtaposition as a form of proximity without fusion, where different materials coexist and reveal new possibilities.

Technical and Artistic Credits:

A co-production between Binaural Nodar, the Municipality of Castro Daire—through the Municipal Library—and the Union of Parishes of Mamouros, Alva, and Ribolhos.
An event integrated into the activities of the Tramontana Network, a project co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe Program.
Event curators: Luís Costa, Marta Carvalhal, and Jorge Ferreira
Audiovisual installation: Luís Costa
Artistic ceramics installation: Rita Gomes
Photographic documentation and visitor support: Nely Ferreira, Andreia Mota (Binaural Nodar), and the staff of the Castro Daire Municipal Library.

Photographs by Liliana Silva and Francesca Migliorin for Binaural Nodar.