Passing on the Torch

I have always dreamed of creating the Terra na Mão creative workshop, driven by the urgency to awaken artistic production and craftsmanship from the earliest years of life. In 2016, our first workshop was born at the Arts and Crafts Center in Trás di Monti, a magical moment where grandmothers, potter mothers, granddaughters, and daughters came together with the goal of stimulating the younger generation's interest in pottery as a technique and creative medium, in this case the production of clay beads.

Over time, we expanded the experience to the school environment, where the enthusiasm of the young participants proved to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Each meeting reinforced the importance of integrating art and crafts into the curriculum, awakening in the new generations a love for manual creation.

In 2018, we had the joy of holding the first official session of the Terra na Mão workshops, supported by IC-Camões, at the Portuguese Cultural Center in Praia. For this special moment, I invited the master potters from Trás di Monti, in Tarrafal, Santiago, with whom I have built a relationship of sharing and respect since the beginning of the Dez Grãozinhos di Terra project.

During a four-hour morning, time seemed to fly by. The children immersed themselves in the creative process, from conception to the materialization of their ideas. Imagination was stimulated, and space was given to nonsense and creative freedom to create clay characters that became protagonists of a collective story.

It was a sensory and emotional journey: from talking about the traditional pottery method in Santiago to the pleasure of getting their hands dirty, watching the characters come to life — first as paint, then as plastic and expressive objects. The expressions of joy stamped on their faces, the clothes “painted” with clay, and the narrative that was born from each creation reflected the magic of a unique moment, full of sparkle in their eyes and sincere smiles.

Transmitting this ancestral knowledge, preserving it as intangible heritage, is fundamental to strengthening our cultural identity and sense of belonging. It is sowing the seeds of the future today, valuing the legacy left by our elders and celebrating the creativity that transforms the earth—the clay—into the raw material of reinvented stories, loaded with meaning and art.

Because, deep down, that is what art and craftsmanship do: they keep alive the invisible thread that connects us to what we were and projects us toward what we can still be.