2020 has finally arrived with so much to give, so much dream, so much sparkle to spread! New year, new beginnings. It’s time to restart, reconnect, rediscover, rebuild, re-something… And at CreativeMornings Lisbon the same happens.
And this new year brought a major change. We have a new host! Rafaela Mota Lemos is now Lisbon chapter’s new host and there couldn’t be a better start for this fresh, smiley and cheerful girl: organizing the first event of the year! And what an amazing event it was!
Roots was the global theme for this month, which was definitely a nice way to begin the year and to plan our journey for the next months. Everyone has roots and it’s incredible how they define us, even in tiny, little details. Vanessa Teodoro’s roots are all around her work as an artist. And that’s what she has talked (and shown!) through the last event.
Vanessa was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and lived there until being 8 years old, when she came to Portugal. She still has an accent, which is something that she tries to preserve as it helps her to stay connected to her roots. And her African roots remained with her, hugely expressed in her art works. She feels inspired by Africa and tribe, so all her works definitely have these connections. Vanessa loves to do monotones, black and white graphics and to draw female heroes. She showed several works and drawings where these characteristics were very intense, very present and very unique at the same time.
As time went by and throughout the evolution of her work, it became cleaner and cleaner. Which also happened to her name. She used to sign her work as Super Van, possibly inspired by female heroes, but she recently changed her signing name to Vanessa Teodoro.
To avoid getting bored in her daily work, Vanessa started to go out of her comfort zone and her work went from papers and paintings to a different stage of materials. She decorated a Jaguar car with her patterns, a dress, a bag or even an out-of-the-box Christmas tree for Ritz hotel. Trying different mediums and adapting to each client makes her keep improving and evolving. It’s a vast and miscellaneous portfolio, where her African roots keep showing up!
Finally, Vanessa gave some tips to the audience, somethings that she has learned through her experiences:
Be proactive.
Focus on your own work.
Be competitive with yourself.
Not everyone will like your work. And that’s actually good.
Network your ass off.
And I must add: be faithful to yourself and to your origins. That’s how you’ll get your unique masterpieces, if you’re an artist, an engineer, a writer, an architect, a teacher, or whatever else. Be you.
It was an a fun and exciting morning. Everyone was connected to Vanessa, wanting to know more about her inspiration and her creative process. And she was so cool that she offered one of her prints in a very cool giveaway! Someone from the audience was really lucky and will never forget this event!
The atmosphere was incredible, everyone seemed to be having a blast! The food was delicious, and the venue was perfect for this first event of the year! A lot of talks, networking and bonding! And that’s what CreativeMornings is all about!
Originally posted in CreativeMornings Lisbon
Photos by Irina Konova and Sónia Ramalho
