Today, I need to tell you a lot. Yes I do. Brazil, and more specifically the capital city of its southern province Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, have really infused me with both passion and enthusiasm. For more than a week, I have enjoyed speaking only Portuguese, finding pleasure in training my Brazilian accent: Tacale pau, Elena! Capaz. Bem legal. 😉 Surrounding myself with local artists revealing “their Porto Alegre” to me – either during a Street Art Graffiti workshop, designing my own, hand-made felt-postcard (!) or making a mosaic. I feel at home. And this is exactly what all the courses & workshops I experienced thanks to Porto Alegre Turismo Criativo have done for me: They open up doors to people’s homes, studios & art spaces, allowing me to experience the city like no other visitor does. Besides the many discoveries you find simply walking around Porto Alegre, creative travel is just so much more meaningful & powerful – as you will know from following #CreativElenaRTW!
If the eyes are a mirror of the soul, looking at Porto Alegre reveals a city that can only live up to its name – a “happy harbour” of creativity, arts & culture in the south of Brazil!
Porto Alegre truly deserves being proud of its status as the country’s first destination for professional creative tourism development – and thanks to the size of Brazil, we talk almost half of South America here! Gaúcho culture, contemporary art as well as dance, creative food experiences and crafts make up the colourful palette of the around 30 service providers gathered as “Creative Travel in Porto Alegre” – Porto Alegre Turismo Criativo. Let me thus share the colours with you that have helped shaping my experience of this country and its people as a happy, unique and very hospitable travel destination.
“Bem legal” – there it goes again, THE classic saying out here in the south of Brazil, meaning “great, cool, fun”! Bem legal therefore, to my first ever Street Art Graffiti workshop here in Porto Alegre!
Inspired by the colourful design patterns of the young artists working here …
… who this lady, the owner of the local Samba school, assists in providing mural space of her school …
… young Lucas Anão here first talks to me explaining the background about his project, purpose and mission. “Tudo de cor para você” – all those colours are for you!
“Fancy trying something yourself, Elena? Today’s your day!” I love it – #CreativElena round the wooorld … my very own round the world trip hashtag is what I choose to immortalize here in Brazil!
A very similar celebration of colours is what we find visiting local artist “Britto Velho”, who among other works presents us with this football he has designed (and painted) on the occasion of the FIFA World Football Championships 2014.
“Britto Velho” ist a beautiful, cheerful, and warm-hearted person who despite (or because?) of his over 70 years of age just loves joking and being open-minded … I very much enjoy talking to this remarkable artist here in Porto Alegre.
Remarkable indeed, as he creates one-of-a-kind works of art: “I have only finished this piece yesterday”, he notes modestly. Fresh and surprisingly young, don’t you think?
Each Wednesday, “Britto Velho” opens up his studio doors to a maximum number of eight participants in the painting courses he teaches. A perfect occasion to come back, for sure!
“Porto Alegre woven in wool” – now how should you imagine that? COLOURFUL, is my answer. “Enriching”, local artist Claudia Horn Ilha says.
What is really interesting here in Brazil is that almost everyone I meet immediately starts talking about their origins, their travels as well as the creative variety and freedom that has helped shaping them and their art. As her name suggests, Claudia Horn Ilha originally hails from Germany. Her parents have moved to Brazil, she was already born here – this is how many travel tales & meetings with the artists & locals of Porto Alegre start. “My grandfather arrived in Rio de Janeiro all the way from Lisbon at only 11 years of age”, Maria Luiza, of Porto Alegre Turismo Criativo, marvels, whose very name accounts for the family adventure – Maria Luiza Lisboa. In this one week of travelling in Porto Alegre, I have gathered so many stories and feelings owed to the impressive openness of the local people around here is: Always shiny faces upon each greeting & goodbye, always heartfelt hugs, kisses and new friendships who really do their best at helping you out. None, seriously none of the clichés about Brazil is confirmed here. On the opposite, what I find is a world that beckons you to immerse yourself in it over and over again.
A symbolic smile for the many heartfelt meetings I have had thanks to Porto Alegre Turismo Criativo: Meeting local artists such as Claudia Horn Ilha allows for a better understanding of the everyday life (and culture) of a city such as Porto Alegre, and Brazil in general.
Creativity is omnipresent here: Ahead of our workshop designing our own felt-postcards, Claudia gathers inspiration for us to start.
“So – what was this thing about creativity & inspiration, again?” 😉
Rest assured: Virtually all the creative workshops I have been to here have all but shown that support is never far away: Claudia helping out Cinthia …
… in designing a postcard portrait of the city of Porto Alegre with a view over the bridge crossing the local Guaíba river. Beautiful – well done Cinthia!
My own inspiration comes from the magic of a sunset we have had the pleasure of experiencing only a few days ago at Ipanema Beach, Zona Sul, Porto Alegre …
… and as such, creative travel provides the perfect opportunity for deepening those very travel moments that mean pure magic to you!
Wool also “wraps us up” visiting Renata Ilha, who besides being a psychologist has opted for teaching the art of Mandala in this local wool shop here …
… faced with the heat of Brazilian summer, and only two weeks away from Christmas, we design and create our own Christmas Mandalas with the help of Renata – another first-time for me in this series of creative experiences in Brazil that I shall never forget!
The wool of Brazil has already been coloured to match the upcoming Christmas celebrations …
… infusing everyone around here with a sense of pride!
Thanks to Renata’s soothing voice and perfect instructions …
… I am soon able to create my very own Christmas Mandala: Thank you so much, dear Renata Ilha, for your patience and inspiration in sharing your art and your life passion with us here in Porto Alegre, Brazil!
Last but not least, I want to tell you about Adma Cora.
Adma talks fast, like a waterfall, happily laughing all the time. She is forever concerned about our wellbeing: Creative travel means a lot to her. “Seja sempre bem-vinda, Elena!”
What a heart, what a soul! I love Adma !!! All enthusiastic, and with real “saudades” is how I end up finishing my creative mosaic workshop with this sweet lady here in Porto Alegre. Maria Luiza, Cinthia & I have arrived in the Avenida Bage 189, Porto Alegre’s Petrópolis district. It is here where local artist Adma Cora lives with her family. Despite – or because of? – her son needing intensive care, she is full of life and positive energy! It is thanks to her efforts that we find her ceramics atelier & workshop fresh & inviting, the sunny inner courtyard full of greens leading us on to her house and workshop. Once more, we have come home. Once more, the passion & enthusiasm of Adma encourages us to develop our own sense of creativity, expressing the inspiration that Porto Alegre has for us. As a mosaic, it is, this time. My cute little masterpiece, which I end up finishing in only a few hours, deserves to be shown: Muito OBRIGADA, Adma querida!
A warm welcome: Adma Cora’s colourful home here in Porto Alegre …
… boasts many little details whose love and careful expression I perceive immediately …
… a little later, all the creative energy has got to me: Ahead of laying out my mosaic, Adma shows me how to work the little glass cubes we use in the preparation of the finished work …
… it really is quite simple after all, don’t you think? 🙂
Fancy creativity: The colours of my travel blog, expressed as a spiral, the very symbol for life & energy, here in Brazil …
… makes me happy & really connect with Adma the artist!
These beautiful people have really grown on me: THANK YOU so much, dear Maria Luiza & Porto Alegre Turismo Criativo (right), dear Adma Cora, for all these hours of intensive sharing and creative inspiration. I shall never forget you – and already end up vowing to come back to Porto Alegre! “FOREVER GRATEFUL” is what I truly am – have a look here to read the full story of yet another inspirational world travel tale.!
Looking for further creative-culinary travel inspiration on Porto Alegre? Here is my hand-picked selection of creative foodie travel tips for you, as shown in this Flickr Photo Gallery:
Disclaimer: I have been invited by Porto Alegre Turismo Criativo to enjoy the creative city of Porto Alegre in Brazil. All opinions are my own.