Abstract ceramic sculptures exploring the body, landscape and the quiet transformations of time.
Vânia R. Gonçalves is a Portuguese ceramic artist based in Lisbon. Her sculptural work explores transformation through material, surface and form. Working primarily with clay, she creates organic structures that evoke movement, tension and fluidity, often blurring the boundary between body and landscape.
Her practice is rooted in experimentation. Through layered glazes and multiple firings, surfaces emerge that resemble eroded terrains, geological formations or traces left by time and natural forces. These material reactions become an essential part of the work, allowing the kiln and the chemistry of the glaze to shape the final outcome.
In recent work, Gonçalves has turned her attention to the body as landscape. She explores how bodies stretch, adapt and carry the marks of lived experience. Rather than depicting the body directly, her sculptures approach these themes through abstraction, where folds, curves and textured surfaces suggest skin, weight and movement.
Her work reflects an ongoing dialogue between control and unpredictability, resilience and change, revealing how form and material can hold traces of time, adaptation and transformation.
Gonçalves began her artistic path after a previous career in dentistry in London, later returning to Portugal to study ceramics at ArCo (Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual) in Lisbon. Her work has since been presented in exhibitions including Lisbon by Design, Dubai Design Week, and Thrown Gallery in London, among others.
EDUCATION
2019-2021, Ceramics, Ar.Co. (Instituto de Arte e Comunicação Visual) Lisbon, Portugal
2023 Understanding Glazes, Ceramic Materials Workshop with Matt Katz
2024 Experimental Glazes with Christina Schou Christensen
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2021- present Founder and tutor at Atelier N12, Monte Estoril, Portugal
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Remnants of Stone, Six Senses Douro Valley, PT
2025 Vânia R. Gonçalves X Lachoix, Lisbon Design Week, PT
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Música como Talismã Contemporâneo, Coletivo Queima Rápida, Solar dos Zagallos, PT
2025 Winter Online Exhibition, Thrown Contemporary, UK
2025 HCIE , Portugal Manual, Hangzhou, China
2025 O Ecoar da Matéria, group show, Roca Gallery Lisboa, PT
2024 Contra-Tempo, Portugal Manual, Freeport Lisboa Fashion Outlet, PT
2024 Paisagem do Agora (cont.), Coletivo `A´ Linha , Núcleo Central do Taguspark, PT
2024 Dubai Design Week, Double J Collective Gallery, UAE
2024 Now Here Nowhere, Lisbon by Design 4th Edition, Lisbon, PT
2024 LACS Santos, Lisbon Design Week
2023 Dubai Design Week, Double J Collective Gallery, UAE
2023 Winter Online Exhibition, Thrown Contemporary, UK
2023 XVIII Exposición Internacional Museo Virtual Mundo Arti Summer Season, Spain
2023 Lisbon by Design 3rd Edition, Lisbon, PT
2022 From Alentejo to Douro, Ojo Gallery, Lisbon, PT
2022 Alentejo, Ojo Gallery, Lisbon, PT
2021 Autumn Exhibition, AR.CO. , Lisbon PT
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Museu de Arte Urbana, Taguspark
PRESS
2025 Marie-Claire Maison Sept/Oct, Des olive et du pin
2025 Room, El Eco de las materias primas llega al Roca Lisboa Gallery
2025 Financial times, In the Albuquerque Foundation, a family estate becomes a ceramics mecca, Jackie Daly
2024 Sol, Átrio central do Taguspark com nova exposição
2024 TV interview for Portugal em Direto
2024 YATZER, Lisbon by Design 2024: A Fusion of Tradition and Innovation Heralds Lisbon's Creative Renaissance, Veerle Devos
2024 Revista Urbana Issue 122, À Lupa - Vago Ceramics
2024 TL Magazine, Lisbon By Design Iberian Vibes
2024 Entretantos Magazine, Special Edition, Crème de la Crème
2024Manera Magazine, Lisbon By Design: Cuatro años celebrando el diseño y la artesanía de Portugal, Iker Oroz
2024Design for Life Magazine “Natureza inspira esculturas de barro de Vago ceramics”
2023 Caras Decoração issue 317, Portugal Faz Bem “Esculturas” , Patrícia Rocha
2023AD-SPAIN “Festival de artesania y diseño” by Arantxa Neyra
2023 MANERA MAGAZINE, “Lisbon by Design revela diseño portugués en estado de gracia”, Iker Oroz
2023PARQ MAG “Do remoto ao novo na Lisbon by Design”, Carla Carbone
2023 , LUX DECO nº79 JAN/FEV, “Ojo inaugura exposição ‘Do Alentejo ao Douro’, Inês Subtil
2022 Attitude Interior Design Magazine Issue 105- May/June 2022, João Guimarães
2022Revista Visão “Ojo Gallery, ver mais além”, Susana Lopes Faustino
2022Visão, Ojo Gallery em Lisboa uma montra para artesãos e jovens criadores, Susana Lopes Faustino
2022Time Out Lisboa “Esta galeria está de Ojo no artesanato português”
2022 Marketeer Sapo“Ojo Gallery, Lisboa recebe uma nova galeria de arte”