Project work
Manuela
Jardim,
schoolteacher,
is
engaged
since
1978
in
a
Project
on
the
fantastic
aspects
of
the
voyages
in
the
period of the Discoveries.
Using
element
water
as
a
means
to
describe
such
a
journey,
mixture
of
past
and
future,
develops
in
her
imaginary
world,
through
lines
that
cross
and
diverge
and
are
labyrinths
of
visual
signs
that
lose
and
find
themselves,
trying
thus to reflect the dimension of the cultural inter change which Discoveries made possible.
In
terms
of
colour
and
transparency,
the
predominance
of
soft
tones
of
blue
(
symbolizing
water
and
infinite),
pink,
gray
(
symbolizing
dream)
and
ochre
(symbolizing
earth),
enrich
the
lyric
message
which
Manuela
Jardim
intends
to
transmit
from
an
attitude
of
observer
–
participant
of
History.
On
the
other
hand,
the
lines
of
movement
are
intentions
and
determination
as
well
as
pretext
and
reason
which
throughout
time
became
a
deep
and
coherent
research.
The
formal
rhythm
happening
through
the
sequence
of
forms
(figures,
contours,
masks,
symbols),
constitutes
an
experimental
work
(to
be
developed
also
in
sculpture),
of
analysis
and
conversion
of
natural
shapes
into
geometric
shapes (exploiting the original roots).
Indeed,
all
experiments
respond
to
a
preoccupation
for
the
aesthetic
and
expressive
processes
of
communication,
which
are
in
fact
the
essence
of
the
artistic
phenomenon,
hence
an
enormous
need
to
investigate
the
language
of
art
itself,
since
the
role
of
the
artist
is
to
invent,
to
build
and
to
include
new
elements,
new
horizons
and
new
perspectives to reality itself,
The
Manuela
Jardim´s
project
work
is
a
message
of
a
poetic
call,
full
of
delicacy,
to
fill
our
world
of
beauty
and
spirituality, breaking the borderline between life and art.
And
art,
may
be
an
escape,
an
evasion
to
possible
alternatives,
leading
the
voyages
of
human
through
to
dream
and imaginary, allowing a cultural and intellectual stimulus, indispensable to creative work.
Tchilay / 1978
The Being and the Cosmos
I
t is implicit the recognition of a certain aspiration of cosmic symbolism in Manuela Jardim´s pictorial work.
Her
paintings
reveal
an
unexpected
serenity,
ignoring
the
obsessive
delirium
of
space
–
temporal
aesthetic
–
philosophic
concepts,
in
a
context
of
universal
reality,
particularly
permeable
to
speculative
eccentricities
of
the
kitsch
art, which is, sometimes, the aberrant expression of uncounted obsessions and artistic frustrations.
Her
art,
of
an
impressionist
lyricism,
strongly
spiritual,
reveals
a
transparent
oniric
beauty
of
imaginary
abstractions,
in a pictorial plan.
The
imaging
anthropoid
figures
of
a
strong
ethnic
empathy,
mirror
a
justified
eclecticism
of
the
pictures
she
captures,
almost
always
in
enigmatic
poses
of
harmonious
quietly
and
mystic
silence,
in
a
nirvana´s
evasion
from
the real to the unreal world.
Manuela
Jardim´s
poetic
or
metaphysic
art
encloses
a
combination
of
abstract
plastic
tendencies,
since
the
orphism
to the futurism, passing through the cubism and purism, to the synchronism and automatism.
According
to
what
we
have
said
in
1992,
about
the
exhibition
that
was
held
at
“Galeria
da
Secretaria
Regional
de
Turismo
e
Cultura”,
we
recognise
that
the
artist
would
be
then
much
more
close
to
Arpad
Szenes
than
to
the
constructivist
and
rectilinear
style
of
Vieira
da
Silva.
Curiously,
since
that
date,
the
plastic
tendency
of
Manuela
Jardim
has
become
aesthetically
developed
to
a
singular
abstractionism.
Mainly
curvilinear,
almost
always
with
well
–
defined
limits
and
spectral
architectures,
which
contrasting
colours,
which
give
shape
to
an
imaginary
chess
of
pictorial images of a strong esoteric resonance, inside and outside the painting.
To
this
distinct
artist,
we
leave
here
a
humble
registry
of
expressive
recognition
for
the
merit
she
decided
to
honour
us.
Finally,
taking
into
account
the
artistic
merit
of
Manuela
Jardim
and
her
own
ethnic
origin,
it
is
important
to
refer,
as
an
introduction
to
her
actual
exhibition,
an
extract
of
a
recent
chronic,
published
in
one
of
the
most
renamed
European
publications
of
the
field,
Nicolas
Bourriaud,
summarises
there,
the
destiny
of
the
art
of
our
days,
as
follows:
“
today,
alliances
and
combinations
are
the
motor
of
the
contemporary
culture,
as
well
as
among
art
and
literature,
and the cinema or the painting”.
João Silvério Pires / 2000
Project Education African Textiles
The
Manuela
Jardim´s
educational
project
on
the
African
Textiles
obtained
in
2003
a
sabbatical
leave
from
the
Portuguese
Ministry
of
Education.
The
research
started
with
the
Panos
d´Obra
of
Guinea
and
Cape
Verde,
a
collection
from
the
Lisbon
National
Museum
of
Ethnology.
The
textiles
were
collected
in
the
60´s
and
70´s
by
the
ethnologists Rogado Quintino and António Carreira, from Guinea and Cape Verde, respectively.
The
artwork
produced
used
recycled
paper,
plaster,
clay
and
technics
as:
drawing,
painting,
sculpture
and
dyeing
textiles,
resulting
from
the
observation
of
the
cloths,
the
history,
the
social
and
cultural
context,
the
texture,
structure, colours and patterns.
These
works
were
presented
at
the
exhibition
-
Através
dos
Panos
,
together
with
workshops
(from
2005
to
2008)
at
the
Lisbon
National
Museum
of
Ethnology.
The
exhibition
Panos
d´Obra
was
presented
at
the
Franco-Portuguese
Institute
(2007),
at
the
V
Biennial
of
S.Tomé
e
Principe
(2008),
at
the
Fundação
Mário
Soares,
Lisbon
(2009),
at
the
Lusofonia
Gathering,
Macau
(2011),
at
the
Wool
Museum
of
Covilhã
(2012),
at
the
Bom
Sucesso
Belém
Fort
(2013)
and
at
the
Centro
Cultural
–
Ponta
Delgada,
Azores
(2015),
always
with
the
aim
of
showing
the
aesthetic,
artistic
and
pedagogic
value
of
the
textiles.
The
project
truly
reflects
the
artists
active
creativity
as
a
painter
and
sculptor
as well as her aims as a hands-on pedagogic educator.
Manuela Jardim
Project work
Manuela
Jardim,
schoolteacher,
is
engaged
since
1978
in
a
Project
on
the
fantastic
aspects
of
the
voyages in the period of the Discoveries.
Using
element
water
as
a
means
to
describe
such
a
journey,
mixture
of
past
and
future,
develops
in
her
imaginary
world,
through
lines
that
cross
and
diverge
and
are
labyrinths
of
visual
signs
that
lose
and
find
themselves,
trying
thus
to
reflect
the
dimension
of
the
cultural
interchange
which
Discoveries made possible.
In
terms
of
colour
and
transparency,
the
predominance
of
soft
tones
of
blue
(symbolizing
water
and
infinite),
pink,
gray
(symbolizing
dream)
and
ochre
(symbolizing
earth),
enrich
the
lyric
message
which
Manuela
Jardim
intends
to
transmit
from
an
attitude
of
observer
–
participant
of
History.
On
the
other
hand,
the
lines
of
movement
are
intentions
and
determination
as
well
as
pretext
and
reason
which
throughout
time
became a deep and coherent research.
The
formal
rhythm
happening
through
the
sequence
of
forms
(figures,
contours,
masks,
symbols),
constitutes
an
experimental
work
(to
be
developed
also
in
sculpture),
of
analysis
and
conversion
of
natural
shapes
into
geometric
shapes (exploiting the original roots).
Indeed,
all
experiments
respond
to
a
preoccupation
for
the
aesthetic
and
expressive
processes
of
communication,
which
are
in
fact
the
essence
of
the
artistic
phenomenon,
hence
an
enormous
need
to
investigate
the
language
of
art
itself,
since
the
role
of
the
artist
is
to
invent,
to
build
and
to
include
new
elements,
new
horizons
and new perspectives to reality itself.
The
Manuela
Jardim´s
project
work
is
a
message
of
a
poetic
call,
full
of
delicacy,
to
fill
our
world
of
beauty
and
spirituality,
breaking
the
borderline
between life and art.
And
art,
may
be
an
escape,
an
evasion
to
possible
alternatives,
leading
the
voyages
of
human
through
to
dream
and
imaginary,
allowing
a
cultural
and
intellectual
stimulus,
indispensable
to
creative work.
Tchilay / 1978
The Being and the Cosmos
It
is
implicit
the
recognition
of
a
certain
aspiration
of
cosmic
symbolism
in
Manuela
Jardim´s
pictorial
work.
Her
paintings
reveal
an
unexpected
serenity,
ignoring
the
obsessive
delirium
of
space
–
temporal
aesthetic
–
philosophic
concepts,
in
a
context
of
universal
reality,
particularly
permeable
to
speculative
eccentricities
of
the
kitsch
art,
which
is,
sometimes,
the
aberrant
expression
of
uncounted obsessions and artistic frustrations.
Her
art,
of
an
impressionist
lyricism,
strongly
spiritual,
reveals
a
transparent
oniric
beauty
of
imaginary abstractions, in a pictorial plan.
The
imaging
anthropoid
figures
of
a
strong
ethnic
empathy,
mirror
a
justified
eclecticism
of
the
pictures
she
captures,
almost
always
in
enigmatic
poses
of
harmonious
quietly
and
mystic
silence,
in
a
nirvana´s
evasion
from
the
real
to
the
unreal
world.
Manuela
Jardim´s
poetic
or
metaphysic
art
encloses
a
combination
of
abstract
plastic
tendencies,
since
the
orphism
to
the
futurism,
passing
through
the
cubism
and
purism,
to
the
synchronism and automatism.
According
to
what
we
have
said
in
1992,
about
the
exhibition
that
was
held
at
“Galeria
da
Secretaria
Regional
de
Turismo
e
Cultura”,
we
recognise
that
the
artist
would
be
then
much
more
close
to
Arpad
Szenes
than
to
the
constructivist
and
rectilinear
style
of
Vieira
da
Silva.
Curiously,
since
that
date,
the
plastic
tendency
of
Manuela
Jardim
has
become
aesthetically
developed
to
a
singular
abstractionism.
Mainly
curvilinear,
almost
always
with
well
defined
limits
and
spectral
architectures,
with
contrasting
colors,
which
give
shape
to
an
imaginary
chess
of
pictorial
images
of
a
strong
esoteric
resonance,
inside
and
outside
the painting.
To
this
distinct
artist,
we
leave
here
a
humble
registry
of
expressive
recognition
for
the
merit
she decided to honor us.
Finally,
taking
into
account
the
artistic
merit
of
Manuela
Jardim
and
her
own
ethnic
origin,
it
is
important
to
refer,
as
an
introduction
to
her
actual
exhibition,
an
extract
of
a
recent
chronic,
published
in
one
of
the
most
renamed
European
publications
of
the
field,
Nicolas
Bourriaud,
summarizes
there,
the
destiny
of
the
art
of
our
days, as follows:
“
today,
alliances
and
combinations
are
the
motor
of
the
contemporary
culture,
as
well
as
among
art
and literature, and the cinema or the painting”.
João Silvério Pires / 2000
Project Education African Textiles
The
Manuela
Jardim´s
educational
project
on
the
African
Textiles
obtained
in
2003
a
sabbatical
leave
from
the
Portuguese
Ministry
of
Education.
The
research
started
with
the
Panos
d´Obra
of
Guinea
and
Cape
Verde.
a
collection
from
the
Lisbon
National
Museum
of
Ethnology.
The
textiles
were
collected
in
the
60´s
and
70´s
by
the
ethnologists
Rogado
Quintino
and
António
Carreira,
from
Guinea
and
Cape
Verde,
respectively.
The
artwork
produced
used
recycled
paper,
plaster,
clay
and
technics
as:
drawing,
painting,
sculpture
and
dyeing
textiles,
resulting
from
the
observation
of
the
cloths,
the
history,
the
social
and
cultural
context,
the
texture,
structure,
colours and patterns.
These
works
were
presented
at
the
exhibition
-
Através
dos
Panos
,
together
with
workshops
(from
2005
to
2008)
at
the
Lisbon
National
Museum
of
Ethnology.
The
exhibition
Panos
d´Obra
was
presented
at
the
Franco-Portuguese
Institute
(2007),
at
the
V
Biennial
of
S.Tomé
e
Principe
(2008),
at
the
Fundação
Mário
Soares,
Lisbon
(2009),
at
the
Lusofonia
Gathering,
Macau
(2011),
at
the
Wool
Museum
of
Covilhã
(2012),
at
the
Bom
Sucesso
Belém
Fort
(2013)
and
at
the
Centro
Cultural
–
Ponta
Delgada,
Azores
(2015),
always
with
the
aim
of
showing
the
aesthetic,
artistic
and
pedagogic
value
of
the
textiles.
The
project
truly
reflects
the
artists
active
creativity
as
a
painter
and
sculptor
as
well
as
her
aims
as
a
hands-on pedagogic educator.
Manuela Jardim
