Fulbright / FCT: Foundation for Science and Technology US Scholar in the Arts, Fran Siegel, spent four highly productive months in Lisbon conducting research for her artistic project, “A Fachada Transparente: The Transparent Façade.”
Fran now shares with us both her project and the experience behind it:
« My four months in Portugal were dizzying. The first 10 weeks in Lisbon I walked photographed, mapped, drew and indexed all of the Azulejo patterns on facades throughout the city. At the same time, I built networks in the art, academic and botanical communities. I continually visited each of the public botanical gardens and private gardens in early May during “Open Gardens.” I met with botanists and was pleased by how open they were to share their expertise and support to my artistic research. I also consulted with the curators at the Museu Nacional do Azulejo and the Natural Science Museum to develop future projects.
I delivered four lectures about intersections between botanical azulejo motifs and native plants: Two at Belas Artes, FLAD and at to celebrate Fulbright’s 65th anniversary. At the conclusion of my June residency at Celeiro A.I.R. in Arrabida, I held a well-attended open studio for the local community.
While in Lisbon I created an index of 50 tiled drawings that documented plants from this region. I met with curators including the Natural Science Museum, where I was invited to propose a project for the Laboratorio in 2026. Mid-May I took a trip up north to photograph the tiled facades of Ovar and plants at Geres- Portugal’s first national park.
Subsequently, during the final month of June I was able to expand my research further in scale and scope in the barn studio at Celeiro A.I.R. an artist residency on a biological farm outside Setubal.
Throughout these four months I met with many artists in and out of their studios, visited numerous exhibitions, and attended dance and musical performances. I participated in three field trips with Belas Artes faculty: a weekend-long from “dirt to clay” workshop in Estramoz, a visit to a tile restoration workshop in Azeitao, and a ceramics workshop in Montemor O Novo.
In becoming immersed in Lisbon’s ever-growing contemporary art scene I have chosen to list locations below assuming that this might be of interest to others.
Contemporary Galleries
Galeria Appleton
Arco ArtFair- Lisbon
Francisco Fino
Fundação Leal Rios
Galeria Graça Brandão
Galeria Madragoa
Galeria Miguel Nabinho
Museu da Ciência – Contemporary Program
Monitor Gallery
Galeria da Boavista (municipal)
Pavilhão Branco (municipal)
Galeria Quadrum (municipal)
Torreão Nascente da Cordoaria Nacional – Brazilian show (municipal)
P28
Galeria Vera Cortês
ZDB Galeria Zé dos Bois
Contemporary Museums
Museu de Arte Contemporânea CCB
MAAT – Museu de Arte Arquitectura e Tecnologia
MNAC Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea
Espaço Coleção Arte Contemporânea
Fundação José Saramago
CAM Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian
Museu Júlio Pomar
Museu Nacional de História Natural (special projects)
Jardim da Estrela – Exhibition Space
Pavilhão Julião Sarmento»
– Thank you, Fran, for all your amazing work and thoughtful insights!
Discover more about Fran Siegel on her website, http://www.fransiegel.com/