Portrait Ceramics Workshop | Who Is Who

Portrait ceramics workshop in Porto at Terra Boa Atelier for groups of minimum six people aged 12 and over who want a ceramic experience that is as much about observation and connection as it is about clay. Led by Joana Nogueira under her ceramic identity Não Sou Rita, this two-hour session invites each participant to model a portrait mask of the person sitting across from them, working from their features, expressions and small details, real or interpreted, with concentration, humour and a genuine willingness to look closely at another person. At the end, each piece is given to the person it portrays. You do not create for yourself here. You create for someone else. All materials, kiln firing and glazing included.

The session moves through observation, hand modelling, volume exploration and engobe decoration with Joana guiding every stage. The portrait mask format encourages exaggeration and interpretation alongside likeness, making the process as playful as it is technically engaging. There is no maximum participant limit, which makes this an ideal format for groups, team activities and any occasion where the act of looking at and making something for another person adds real meaning to the experience. Pieces are stored at the atelier for drying, firing and glazing and ready for collection from one month after the workshop.

What you’ll learn

🎭 How to observe and interpret another person’s facial features and expressions in clay

🎭 Hand modelling techniques for building a ceramic portrait mask from scratch

🎭 How to work with volume, exaggeration and interpretation in three-dimensional form

🎭 Engobe decoration and painting for adding colour and personality to a portrait

🎭 The full ceramic process from raw clay to fired and glazed finished piece

What’s included

🏺 All clay, engobes, tools and materials for the full two-hour session

🏺 Full guidance from Joana Nogueira throughout for all participants

🏺 Drying, firing and glazing of all finished portrait masks after the workshop

🏺 Notification when pieces are ready for collection

What you leave with

A ceramic portrait mask of you, made by the person sitting across from you and given to you at the end of the session, fired and glazed at Terra Boa Atelier and ready to collect from one month later.

I am Joana Nogueira, a multidisciplinary visual artist and educator based in Porto since 2012. I work between ceramics and animation cinema, building worlds populated by hybrid characters that cross imagination, humour and personal memory. My ceramic project operates under the identity Não Sou Rita, where play, irony and creative freedom are central. I founded Terra Boa Atelier in Porto in 2020, where I develop my own work and teach ceramics. My work is present in shops and exhibition spaces across Portugal, Europe and the USA.

Duration two hours. Open to ages 12 and over. Minimum 6 participants. Maximum adjustable to group size. Pieces ready for collection from one month after the workshop with up to three months to collect.