The Roman Ruins of Milreu, in Estoi (Faro), national monument, are the starting point of a creative day aimed mainly at children and their families, which will culminate in the group creation of a land art project. This activity, which is part of the DiVaM Outdoors cycle, will take place on Sunday, May 17, from 10:00 am to 16:30 pm.
Nicole Lissy, from Yellow Association, is largely responsible for this activity carried out in partnership between the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve, which proposes an intervention and exploration of that archaeological site for its beautiful Roman mosaics, execution techniques, artists and art history.
On Creative Day in Milreu, it will be possible to explore creative practices, drawing, photography and art in nature, reusing natural materials found on the beaches of the Algarve.
Nicole Lissy, who was a guest of the program Impressões da Rádio Universitária do Algarve (RUA FM), promoted together with the Sul Informação, explained that the basic idea is, «in those beautiful Roman ruins, a very beautiful and inspiring place, spend a day there with family and friends and experience a creative process».
«As the creative process is not possible to plan from beginning to end, if you don't take away all the creativity and space for it to happen, the plan is quite simple: people take whatever materials they want – paper, pencils, erasers, shells , cuttlefish boats, camera». All so that participants can explore creative practices, drawing, photography and art in nature, reusing natural materials found on Algarve beaches.
In Milreu, there will be three artists, who will accompany the people, “also to inform them a little about what was there at the time of the Romans, what the Romans did”.
Thus, after the meeting and presentation of the group at around 10:00 am, the concise history of the place, themes and technique of execution of the Roman mosaics will be initially presented.
After the gathering and preparation of materials, and after referring to the care to be taken with the ruins, there will be free circulation, to search for images, exchange ideas and information about the themes, the artists and finally, the choice of the preferred place for dedicate to the activity.
After a convivial picnic, participants will be introduced to “art in nature” (land art) and its most famous artists.
The creation of mosaics with natural materials is an invitation to a different look and feel about the Monument, it is a challenge to act, build, create and relax. Entries are free and must be made via email [email protected].
«Let's get some inspiration from the mosaics and let's try to create a connection with contemporary art, more precisely with the landart, which is an art with natural materials, in nature. In the afternoon, we will bring the group together and create an art project in nature inspired by Roman mosaics – create a group work”, continued Nicole Lissy.
The artist explains that «the connection with the beach was already made by the Romans, because, when you look at Milreu's mosaics, they are mosaics with maritime motifs».
According to the director of Associação Amarelarte, «the entire process will be monitored and documented», since this day of creativity will then give rise to a photographic exhibition.
Nicole explains that what and how it will be “the group's final work is difficult to predict. We don't know how to predict what will emerge from this group's work». But it is a work that “will stay there in nature”, being also essentially “ephemeral”. «Nature, as always, will harvest the materials back, the grass will grow on top, maybe one day a boy will jump inside and dismantle the shells a little bit». Land art, art in nature, that's what this Austrian woman has been living in the Algarve for several years.
Nicole Lissy confesses that she herself only got to know the Roman Ruins of Milreu when she started preparing for this DiVaM Outdoor activity. But immediately fell in love with the place.
It is an archaeological site that, he stresses, «has an interesting but ancient history, which seems to have no connection with the present time». Therefore, in the spirit of the Algarve Monuments Enhancement and Promotion Program, the idea is to make a «connection with the Roman artists, think a little bit about what they thought, what they felt, what they did and transport it to ours. life in the present time». Basically, Nicole hopes that this creative day at that national monument will allow participants to “rethink or see with new eyes spaces they know”.
Nicole Lissy, an Austrian living in the Algarve region for several years, since she came to study Erasmus at the University of Algarve, where she met and married her Portuguese husband, she hopes to bring her two children, aged 4 and 8, to this activity in Milreu. In fact, he emphasizes, taking them to inaugurations and cultural events is something he is used to doing, although sometimes they are «the only children in these places». "But these are images that will stay with them" forever, he defends.
Having been trained as a teacher, the young woman is dedicated body and soul to Yellow Association, created three years ago (on the 25th of April) and headquartered at Casa Amarela, next to Largo Pé da Cruz, in Faro.
«I have always been active in the cultural sphere, since I was little. I do creative dance and theater. But I stopped when I got here, because I had to change languages and I had two children. But I felt I had to go back to that area that fills me, which is theater, dance and the arts». And that was how Amarelarte was born, whose activity involves, above all, working with children, culture and creativity.
«The idea is to start from a young age to have contact with Culture, Visual Arts, Theater and Dance, because we believe that this will be a great asset in the personal and professional development of each one», he stresses.
«I've been trained as a teacher and I felt that, although, in Kindergarten, the arts and creativity are still important, at school everything else is more important and creativity becomes really oppressed, in a way that I don't agree with. At Amarelarte, we try to provide an alternative to that», which is why the association promotes classes or workshops, courses, various events for children, which take place once a week or at the weekend.
The activities for this year 2015, in addition to the Creative Day in Milreu, within the scope of DiVaM, are many and some of them innovative, such as the Circus School for children.
In her interview with Impressões, Nicole announced that on May 31, at Casa Amarela, an exhibition by Bruno Boto, designer, president of the Southern Designers Association, will be inaugurated.
Bruno Boto and other designers from his Association will also offer several workshops for children at Casa Amarela, a way to celebrate Children's Day the day before, on Sunday.
On June 6th, it will be the turn of the final presentation of the theater course for children. «It is the group of the Amarelarte Theater Club, which has existed for three years and is growing. Throughout the year, we work on various concepts of creative dance, body expression, theatrical expression, and a bit of theater, improvisation. At the end, we'll present everything we've learned over the year, in a small piece that is inspired by a story from a children's book by Kalandraka, “The Mole Who Wanted to Know Who Did It to Her Head”».
The choice of the book itself shows how things work at Amarelarte: «the book was chosen in a group, but it was a suggestion by one of the girls in the theater group», Nicole recalls.
At the end of October, the Cool Tour will return, a cultural festival for children, which is now in its third consecutive edition.
“At the festival there are always plays created by children, for children and families, and this year's theme will be taboos, disgust, things that are often still natural for children, but also cultural differences and social exclusion”, stresses the responsible for the association. The choice of this Cool Tour theme is intended to «provoke critical thinking, especially among children, but through children, as well as parents and educators who come with them».
The Cool Tour Festival has the involvement of several entities, but the biggest partnership is with the Mandacaru cooperative, with Laura David, who has also been working for years, in volunteer work, with the children and young people of Horta da Areia. “Every year they prepare a play, they do contemporary dance,” says Nicole.
This year, he stresses, «we are more committed to arranging new financial support for the Cool Tour, to raise the level in professional terms, so that we can increase the size and quality of the festival». The work of finding these supports and new partners is not easy, but it is already underway.
It will be these new supports that will allow that, in October, there are not only shows at the Municipal Library of Faro and the Labirinto (an interactive theatrical project) at Casa Amarela, as «probably we are also going to streamline more spaces, in Alameda, at Ateliê do Movimento».
The idea, argues Nicole Lissy, is to bring together «everyone who works in the cultural area with children, to make a real festival of Faro».
«I notice that, in Faro, the associations and entities that support it are coming together more and more, working together. This is how we can work better. I myself am always available to work with other associations», he stresses.
But the most innovative project of 2015 will be the Circus School for Children, taking place during the first three weeks of the summer.
“This is something I bring from Austria. Sometimes I think: this was fun to have here”, and that's how the idea of the circus school came about.
«I myself have never learned any circus art, but I am interested. I thought it would be really nice to have a circus school for the children of Faro», adds Nicole.
For now, the project is still being structured, after having already passed the idea conception stage.
And what will the children learn at this circus school? Nicole explains that the idea is to create a program for three weeks, during which the children “would be with us all day, having the opportunity to learn several different techniques, such as juggling, unicycle, clown”.
So, the first week will be about learning techniques and training. In the second week, he reveals, «we join with the learned techniques, let's create an idea, let's create a theme, a message or a story that the children want to pass on, want to invent or work on. We added the creation of sets, costumes, in order to create an artistic project that encompasses all these disciplines, so that, in the third week, we can rehearse a show that will then be presented to the public».
As there is already a short time for those first three weeks of summer, Nicole Lissy warns that «this year is a pilot project, it will start small, but I believe it has the capacity to grow».
In fact, this is the characteristic of all Associação Amarelarte projects: to materialize ideas of culture and creativity for and with children, in projects that start small but grow, always in symbiosis with the environment in which they are located, in this case, the city and the people of Faro.
"We, the adults who follow these activities, see it as our task to provide everything we have learned, our experience, everything children need to develop their ideas."
On Sunday, the 17th, this will be exactly what will happen in the Roman Ruins of Milreu, when creativity runs wild in this national monument.
Listen here in full to Nicole Lissy's interview, da Amarelarte, to the «Impressions» program on RUA FM
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