Students’ Gaze over

works by Ângelo de Sousa

and Boriss Bērziņš

Visual Art Education project

Portugal – Latvia 2009-2011
Associação de Profesores de Expressao
e Comunicação Visual ( www.apecv.pt)

LAT-InSEA Association of Art Educators’

of Latvia
Visual culture encompasses all visual imagery and their
circumstances. Considering the gaze focuses attention
upon us, the viewer and our relationship with what they
see. We are invited by images to see in a particular way,
but we also come to them with already existing
relationships to what we see. The gaze is therefore a
crucial way in which to understand ourselves as
individuals and as a society. It offers a significantly
different orientation than most thinking about fine art,
which tends to focus on the image-makers and
describing, interpreting and evaluating their work without
necessarily considering what we ourselves bring to the
image.
• The project proposes the works of
painters Angelo de Sousa ( Portugal)
and Boriss Bērziņs ( Latvia) to be
interpreted by students between
Portugal and Latvia. Portuguese and
Latvian students must study the works
of both artists Boriss Berzins and
Angelo de Sousa . The aim is to
provide multicultural experiences and
contemporary art appreciation among
students of both countries.
• Project coordinators:
Dace Paeglite (Latvia) and Teresa Torres de Eça (Portugal)

• Art Teachers/Schools:
Portugal: Escola Secundária Damião de Goes (Alenquer)- Zulmira
Belo and Escola Profissional de Paços de Ferreira- Lurdes Gomes
Latvia: Pardaugavas Music and Art school ( Riga) www.pmms.lv
Dace Paeglite

Riga Centre Applied Art school www.rcdp.lv (Riga)

A.Liberte –Lasmane
Liepaja Art school www.lbms.lv ( Liepaja)
Ilze Elizabete Rasa
• Aims: Enable students to study
the work of a contemporary
artist from another country
taking into account the gaze of
the viewer
• Objectives: Interpretation of the
artwork taking into account
the context where it was
produced and where it is
displayed by visual and written
means.
 Some Pedagogical Approaches
• Ask the students to look for background information about the
artworks in Museums , books and internet . Questioning all the time
through continuous conversations with and between the students
about what they see, what they had learned from the documents,
what they feel and what they think about the artworks. Help them to
understand the contexts, historical background, the culture of the
country, what happened in the world when the art work was
produced, the art period where it is categorised , the style, the
techniques, the meaning , etc. Let the students to express their
opinions and their interpretations , let them start with an image and
see what associations they can make ( brainstorming) . Don’t worry
if this will leave to other domains of knowledge or disciplines , this is
an interdisciplinary project.
• Students may interpret he artworks using metaphorical or
Intertextuality processes . Intertextuality is based on the structure of
a rhizome, the same structure as grass or the Internet. Both grow
not because of deep roots but by means of connecting nodes.
Intertextuality connects through associations, either intended by the
maker or constructed by the viewer. Viewers s make associations
with imagery according to their own interests and knowledge.
Associations are brainstorming exercises very easy to implement
and develop creative thinking helping them to understand the
culture in their contexts of production and appreciation.
• So, by introducing a foreign artist to the students we want them to
make free associations and to express their own feelings and views
by visual quoting or visual appropriation, it is not only a process of
copy it must be a process of re-creation and invention through self-
references.
Ângelo de Sousa
Angelo de Sousa was my teacher of ETCHING in the Fine Arts
School of Porto in the late eighties . I remember him as a
very exigent artist . He was able to talk about art as a
continuous discovery , a reflection of everyday life upon
the obvious. Shape, colour , line, texture he spoke about it
in a very simple way, without any arrogance or pretensions
like things that need to be studied, like a scientist he was
looking for the unknown, the hazardous. He was always
questioning everything and challenging routines. What I
really enjoyed in his classes was that he was able to
motivate us by talking positively about our students work
and transmit the need to go further, to do better and never
be satisfied in the first attempts .What I really enjoy in his
art works is the freshness , the rhythm of the forms, the
cleanness of shapes , the way he plays with simple
materials and the way makes us feel the beauty of them.

Teresa
Bibliography
Angelo – 1993 Uma antológica – Fundação de
Serralves ; 14 de Outubro de 1993

Ângelo de Sousa Sem prata – Museu Serralves ; 18

de Novembro 2001

Nazaré, Leonor ;Ângelo de Sousa – com um mínimo

de gritos ; Edições Caminho
Boriss Bērziņš
Pardaugavas Music and Art
school ( Riga)
www.pmms.lv
Inspired by Ângelo de Sousa
Dace Paeglite
Liepaja Children Art school-
Angelo de Sousa
Sintija Kurvina
PMAS Interpretation of Angelo
de Sousa art.
Dace Pudane
Children from Pardaugavas Music and Art
school making 3 dimension objects-
interpretation of Angelo de Sousa works.
Teacher Agnese Stage
Agate Lielpētere, teacher Dace Pudāne
Angelo de Sousa-Signija-teacher Dace Pudāne
Angelo de Sousa-Solveiga-teacher Dace Pudāne
Teacher Inese Margevica
Martins
Inspired by Boriss Berzins
Escola Profissional de Paços de Ferreira- Portugal
Teacher Maria de Lurdes A.M.S. Gomes

The students are in a furniture design course in a vocational school,

they inspired themselves in the Latvian artist shapes to create 3D
objects
People. Boriss Bērziņš and us.

Riga Centre Primary School of

Applied Arts , 8 th class.
Teacher Laima Akmentiņa
Endija
Katrīna Kurpe, teacher Laima
Agate Lielpētere, teacher Laima Akmentiņa
Stella Kaprāne, teacher Laima Akmentiņa
 Pardaugavas Musica and Art
school-Paintings created by
watching art of Boriss Bērziņš.
B.Bērziņš-Ieva-teacher Dace Pudāne
B.Bērziņš-Annija-teacher Dace Pudāne
B.Bērziņš-Solveiga-teacher Dace
Pudāne
B.Bērziņš-Signija-teacher Dace
Pudāne
B.Bērziņš-Anete-teacher Dace
Pudāne
B.Bērziņš-Inga-teacher Dace
Teacher Laine Kainaize, 7 th
class of Riga Centre Primary
school of applied arts
 Laima Akmentina
Riga Centre Primary School of Applied Arts
Boriss Bērziņš. Still life with spoiled fruit. 1990
Boriss Bērziņš. Still life with potatoes
Pupils of Riga Centre primary school of applied arts become acquainted with
Boriss Bērziņš works
Arturs_Velikotnijs teacher Ilze Kupca
Inga Zotova teacher Ilze Kupca
Ingrida Meza violin teacher Ilze Kupca
Solveiga Kalva teacher Ilze Kupca
Ingrida Meza teacher Ilze Kupca
Teacher Inese Margevica Jekaterina onufrijeva
Teacher Inese Margevica Elizabete Grinblate
Teacher Inese Margevica Santa Cera
Teacher Inese Margevica Edijs
Bunduls
Una Vagale teacher Dace Paeglite
Una Vagale 2 teacher Dace Paeglite
Ieva Gavare teacher Dace Paeglite
Elizabete Grinblate teacher Agnese Stage
Leskova Vikktorija teacher Dace Paeglite
Oskars Kalva teacher Dace Paeglite
Madara Grike teacher Agnese Stage
Teacher Inese Margevica Patricija Pakalniete
Liepajas Children Art school-
Boriss Bērziņš
 Pardaugavas Music and Art school
Art division
Students’ statements about B.Berzins
•
I like
I like all his drawings. Fat ladies and coffee can, especially the tools.
I like items without shadows in his pieces. That makes them more
beautiful.
He has got too much warm tones.
I like that his pieces are abstract and that they have extraordinary
atmosphere.
We can see the ugly and the beautiful in his pieces.
I like abstraction very much. That makes people watch the piece for a bit
longer time to understand what the piece is depicting.
I loved his invoices, very careful and interesting.
The pieces are strange and painted in beautiful colours. Very
harmonized colours.
Colours beautifully flow, like amber.
It’s interesting, that his pieces are divided into squares, but others were
not understandable at all.
• I don’t like

I don’t like the paintings if I can’t understand what is

depicted.I didn’t like the depicted people, they seemed
very chubby.
I didn’t like those paintings were everything was in colour
squares.

I didn’t like that people depicted were so explicated.

It’s strange that he likes big women.

His pieces are inspiring and interesting. watching them

makes new thoughts and ideas.
 I was shocked

• Why brown colours?

• Boriss Berzin’s pieces … were a little shocking!!!

• I am shocked by the style Boriss Berzins paints.

• I am shocked that he can reflect one thing so often and

interesting.
 Boriss Berzins is

Boriss Berzins is an artist, who had achieved success and popularity

by his paintings.
The artist was not afraid to experiment and drew one and the same
in different pieces.
He is called Latvian Ruben because of women’s silhouettes. He is
also called Latvian Rembrandt.
The Artist with the capital letter.
The pieces are thoughtful, philosophic and make to think.
Brown colours in his pieces are warm and pleasant.
He is a talent and ability to create so many tones of brown colour.
How could he create so many pieces? Wasn’t it boring?
Would Boriss Berzins like my
paintings?

It would be funny to see if he watched our

paintings for a long time to understand the
main idea
I have no idea what he would think.
Perhaps he would enjoy!
I think he would find something he would
like in every student’s work, but others he
would probably curse.
Riga Centre Applied Art school students about Boriss Berzins

Lana Birska, 8th grade:

“I was surprised. Especially I liked the piece “Pig’s head”, because
there was the green and the white colours. An appearance in this
piece reminded me of a mountain with a green outline. I was a bit
shocked, but I liked the piece “Drunkard”. I liked its colours, but its
title created a feeling of disgust. I loved the long eyelashes and form
of lips. And I also was shocked by the small sheets of papers
painted next to lips, ears, eyebrows, hair, for instance “nits”,
“nicotine”. All in all while watching at the pieces I noticed lot of
brown tones and abstract forms.”
• Helena Bindemane, 8th grade:
“I loved that the pieces are not artificial
and scamped. B.Berzins paints what he
sees, hears and feels. Simplicity is his
element, at least at a glance. It’s possible
if I watched for a longer time period, I
would find the souls of each piece. The
technique is interesting – it’s with stripes.”
• Nauris Martinsins, 8th grade:
“B.Berzin’s pieces are simple, but at the
same time they are interesting. The same
tones are used in each piece. The colour
covering is not thick, but transparent. I was
surprised by so simple, but so effective
way of painting and forms.”
• Luize Ruksane, 8th grade:
“He has many ways to display the art, free
flows of feelings, made by confident and
fearless hand. There are lot of circle and
plump women forms.”
Endija Stepanova, 8th grade:
“I was impressed by the colours and the
dark. Frequent bowings, black lines, made
the piece closed, but at the same time
they attracted me.”
 Liepaja Children Art School
Students’ statements about Boriss Berzins
•

Most of the students did not know anything about the artist so far.
Some of students had heard a little about the artist, when teachers were telling about
him at the lessons of painting.
Watching closely at reproductions, students admitted, that they were inspired by the
artist’s mastery skills, different techniques and different materials used.
The artist’s drawing skills, special line rhythms and winds were especially highlighted.
I think it’s interesting that the artist can make his works complicated just by simple
lines.
Boriss Berzins hadn’t tried to depict somebody, but “had put his own ideas in his
works”.
The pieces emanate light atmosphere, stability and a feeling of safety.
Students expressed a wish to inherit Boriss Berzins experience in their own pieces.
I could use Boriss Berzin’s different techniques, accuracy and the ideas to dare in my
own pieces.
Interchange cultural with
Latvia
Escola Secundária Damião de
Goes
Alenquer
Portugal
 In the drawing
class – 10th J

Orientation: teacher
Zulmira Belo
Interpretation of Boriss Berzins
work

Personal interpretation of the work of Boriss Berzins:

The painting I chose was “Summer solstice", which in Portuguese is "Revellers in Summer Solstice."
I chose this specific painting because I liked it with its mixture of green and yellow shades.
In my work I represented the image that drew my most attention and for it to resemble the picture, but
with my interpretation, I glued leaves to the "hair" of the characters and painted leaves that I eventually
transferred to the painting.

Helena Santos
Adriana
Mariana Barreto
“Reclining Woman”
 
As the painting was very dark and little could be defined, I
decided to do something different: I portrayed a woman on a
beach, I changed the scenario into something much lighter so that
one could see what was there.
The woman is reclining on a beach chair by the sea, the colors
are more vivid than the original painting, red, blue, white, lilac,
skin colored shades (light and dark), black and orange.
The space is wider and clearer.
To make the sand I used sand mixed with glue and paint,
almost in the same color.

Rhayanne
 The Yard
 
My interpretation of "The
Yard" was to create a backyard
of a house that resembled the
original work. As for materials I
used acrylic paint, wood glue
and even sand. The title I
suggest for my painting is "The
Yard".
Helena Dias
Lino Scheideker
Daniela Marques
David
Guilherme
In my work I maintained the
same forms, changing
colors and adding some
details.
The technique that was
used: acrylic paint on
canvas.

Nicolas
Pedro Menino
Tiago
“Antiquity”
 
This is a work of the artist Boriss Berzins,
and the title translated into Portuguese means
"ancient." This title portrays the painting a bit
because it shows us a naked woman on a
deserted beach and no sign of modernism.
This painting is a painting "with no color",
which portrays the title "Antiquity." In the past
there was no color photography so the artist
decided to do the work in greyscale. Boriss
Berzins used a mild stroke, resembling a pen.
This framework is entirely composed of lines.
I think this picture is one of the Boriss Berzins
best, because it shows a landscape just with
lines.
I also liked that there was no sign of
modernism.

In my interpretation, I changed the painting

into one with colour, because the original is
based on gray. I also increased the outline,
making it a little thicker and in the end I tried
to portray the original painting.

José
Sara Rodrigues
This work composed of warm colors trasmits a feeling of
warmth. In this painting of Boriss Berzins various
techniques such as gouache, dry pastel and pencil sepia
were used. In my own painting, I changed the background
and a bit of its expression, although I kept most of the
characterizing features . The name "Crying Girl" means a girl
crying and that is exactly what the painting portrays as the
main and only character has tears and a sad expression,
which leads us to conclude that she is sad.
Perhaps the artist was having the same feeling when he
painted it. The tears are what gives greater expression to his
work. Although his work is poorly detailed, I added a hand
holding a flower so that there would be a more complete and
enjoyable composition.
André
 My painting is entitled "Crying
Girl." That is "the girl who cries."
The original work is based on four
shades of brown, with clearly
defined lines and it represents the
sadness and anguish of a girl. In
my painting I changed some
features of its form and I changed
to warmer colors, painting the
background of red and the tone of
the face of the character in skin-
colored orange.
João
I chose this painting because it was the one
that attracted my attention the most.
I used acrylic on canvas; I decided to
change it because I thought it was "lifeless"
and I transfomed the girl into a “modern girl
of today", using lighter colors and everyday
accessories.
Colors used: blue, pink, skin, orange, yellow,
black and white.
 Patrícia
Still life with mushrooms
Painting: Still Life with Mushrooms
Material: Acrylic Paint

Why I chose this painting:

I chose this painting because the fact that I could relate the mushrooms with the
pitcher and the cup caught my attention.
 
Personal interpretation:
The aim was to give the idea that a "hurricane" had passed through the painting,
breaking the pieces and "vandalizing" the work.

Miguel Santos
.

Still life with mushrooms 1955

This work by Boriss Berzins, represents a still life with mushrooms and various mixed
objects. In my painting I wanted to add some mushrooms, a window, a pitcher, and a table.
As a basis, I made several studies until I chose the best, to represent on the canvas.
Ana Rita
 Sara Franco

I chose this painting because I was

advised by someone superior to me. This
work contains feelings of sadness. In it
there are warm and cool colors which
represent mushrooms that are dead. For
me this painting is interesting, because
of the illustrated expresson of its title.

Sérgio Franco
 “Pig slaughter”

Pedro Geraldes

Interpretation of “Tear” – 1990s

Filipa Paixão
Analysis of my painting: 
Boat in the Harbour
The painting I chose was “Barco no
Porto”- Boat in the Harbour. My
interpretation was based on part of the
picture, where the horizon could be seen
as well as the boats in the harbor.
I made some changes such as the
sunset, the rocks, the clouds, the
reflections and the shadows.
When looking at the painting we witness
a journey, happy, with no specific
destination, quiet and peaceful.
The power of the sun on the sea,
because the original was not very lively;
there were too many boats, which allowed
one to conclude that nothing could be
understood in the background. It was
somewhat abstract, confusing, but happy.
Like the Titanic, which ultimately ends up
sinking.
When you look more attentively, this
boat is also close, too close to the rocks,
which could have the same fate.
It depends on the interpretation of each
person.
 

Vanessa Bailão 10J

 Riga, 1st Exhibition
21 September 2010- 21 October
2011
21 September, vernissage

with the presence of The

Ambassador of Portugal;
Directors of the 2 Schools in
Riga, Laima Slava ( author of
Boris Berzins’ Monography,
head of Publishing House
Neputns ) ;
Representant of the Latvian
National Museum of Art; Art
teachers involved in the project
from Riga; students, Latvian
and Portuguese Coordinators
of the Project.
Thanks

Thanks
• In Portugal the project was realized by
APECV, and supported by the Education
Services of Centro de Arte Moderna José de
Azeredo Perdigão- Fundação Calouste
Gulbenkian

• In Latvia project supported by:

• Monograph autor Mrs. Laima Slava
• Editional House Neputns
• Latvian National Art Museum.