An interview by Maria Manuela Restivo, shortened and translated from Portuguese by Isabel Hartwig. The original can be found at: https://www.artepopularportuguesa.org/antonio-ramalho/
Photographs © Arte Popular Portuguesa de Ana a Zé
António Ramalho was born in Barcelos in 1969. He is the son of Júlia Ramalho, the great-grandson of Rosa Ramalho, and has been playing with clay since he was a child. He was born into one of the most famous families of figurative ceramics, so it is not surprising that the legacy of his great-grandmother and mother can be felt in his own figures. He uses their elements and motifs or consciously breaks away from them to go his own way. In 2004, António began to devote himself exclusively to figurative ceramics, helping his mother with production, but he also began to create his own designs. Important features of his work are his experiments with green glazes, as well as fantastic motifs and bizarre creatures with which he breaks with typical folk art. [...]
Do you remember the first time you worked with clay? The first piece?
I don't remember the first piece exactly, but I remember working with clay. I was working with my great-grandmother; she had a fondness for little horses and things like that. And a Spanish gentleman came and chose my piece.
And how old were you?
Well, she died in 1977, and that was in '76 or '75, so I must have been six or seven years old.
They were still very small back then.
Yes. Sometimes we made toys out of clay and played with them. We built roads and small trucks. Until I left.
When did you decide to devote yourself exclusively to ceramics? Did you have any other jobs before?
It's like this: I went to school... and even during that time I helped my mother. After I decided to finish school, I devoted myself full-time to ceramics.
How old were you?
Sixteen.
And then you said: I will only do this?
Yes. Then there were three phases... There were two relatively short phases in which I emigrated. The first time I was in France. Six months. In... let's see if I can remember. No, the first time I was in England was in '89, between August and December. In 1990 I was in France, between May and October.
Why did you leave? Was figurative art not enough for you?
No, it was more of an adventure [laughs].
What influenced you most when you started producing your own pieces?
When I first started helping my mother, I didn't learn very quickly. My brothers would make fun of me because I would spend an entire afternoon producing a single piece if I had to. "Hey, you only did one piece!" Then I started gaining experience and the more you learn, the more you produce. You get better and better, you have new ideas... But in the beginning I didn't even sign my pieces - what I produced was signed by my mother.
What kind of objects were they? How did you come across them?
The first things I did were little animals, Vikings - there was Vicky the Viking at the time [laughs]. All that stuff. Cartoons always end up having some kind of influence. And so I played around with that kind of thing.
When you started developing your own forms, were you influenced? I don't know if you did any research, in books or something...
No, not in books. I do it like this: I take a blank sheet of paper and make a few sketches. And sometimes that gives me ideas. I think: This is how I'm going to do it. And so that I don't forget, I make a few sketches. And even if I don't implement them right away, I keep the drawing so that I don't forget.
How do you deal with the influences of Júlia and Rosa Ramalho in your work?
António Ramalho ~ I try not to lose the influences, but also to renew them a little by doing things differently. But the basis is undoubtedly what comes from them; both from one and the other.
Júlia Ramalho ~ I'll go into that a little bit. For example, when he goes to the FIL [International Crafts Fair in Lisbon], he should take Saint Anthony, Saint Peter and Saint John, like my grandmother did. He then answers his customers what he said before: "I don't want to lose my grandmother's tradition, but I'm going to create new things." Isn't that a good answer? He says he doesn't want to do what his grandmother did. [...] But he won't live only from the animal motifs! If he makes figures of saints like I do, he can say: "This is my mother and grandmother's tradition." I still make the goats, the carrôchos [mythical creatures]... I've also been asked: "Why are you copying your grandmother?" And I said: "I'm not copying my grandmother, I'm continuing my grandmother's tradition."
AR ~ That's exactly what I said.
“Pedaços d'Avó” [Grandmother's Pieces], a creation by António Ramalho, brings together three iconic works by his great-grandmother Rosa Ramalho: the Devil's Head, Christ and the Goat.
Regarding the creative process: Do you know from the beginning what you are going to create, or does the piece develop on its own?
Sometimes you have an idea, but when you finish the piece it's completely different than you imagined.
What is your favorite piece?
My favourite is "Pedaços d'Avó". And "Bicéfalo" [two-headed creature]. Basically, I like them all; there isn't a single one I don't like.
What about the glazes?
The main color is honey brown.
Is there a reason why you also use green glaze on your pieces?
My great-grandmother used brown, green and yellow. The brown glaze is my mother's trademark, otherwise no one would be able to tell our pieces apart.
"Bicéfalo" with green glaze
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What does your daily routine look like? Do you work according to the same schedule every day?
When there is more to do, we sometimes work even more than we should. But craftsmen never have a fixed schedule. There are days when you just don't feel like it, when you have no inspiration...
Do the seasons influence your work?
JR ~ We work a lot in the run-up to Christmas because that's when we sell the most.
Is there anyone among the other figurative artists that you particularly like?
I like [Joaquim Ferreira] Esteves a lot, who does caricatures and has original ideas. His mind doesn't follow the ideas of others. Of course there are themes that have been worked on before, but he is very original. And I like João Lourenço. He is also very original. He masters several areas: the glazing technique, the potter's wheel... He can do and explores many things.
Is there anyone else that stands out?
AR ~ As for the people who paint… I find them all identical, very similar.
JR ~ You copy...
AR ~ No, they don't copy. Everyone does it in their own way, but they are very similar.
[…]
What do you consider your art to be if it is not "popular art"?
As Zé Carlos [owner of the Cruzes Canhoto gallery in Porto] says, it's probably Art Brut. I like to work a little with the primitive... Sometimes you exaggerate the details and they're not worth it. If you look at my great-grandmother's works, they're very simple. But it has everything it needs, the individual piece has everything. Expression, movement... it's all there.
[…]
Some pieces by António Ramalho can be ordered online here .