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U.Porto Memory

University of Porto Famous Alumni

Lídia Vieira

Lídia Vieira 1936-2005 Sculptor and teacher

Maria Lídia da Silva Costa Vieira was born in Viana do Castelo, in 1936.

She inherited from her father the taste for plastic arts and explored this in her father's books. She was particularly seduced by Greek and Roman sculpture.

After completing high school, a teacher encouraged her to follow Fine Arts. She accepted the challenge despite the poor enthusiasm shown by her family, who did not support this decision.

At the Porto School of Fine Arts, she attended the General Sculpture Course (1968) and the Plastic Arts Course (1978), having discovered her vocation for working with stone, which she would develop in various artistic forms (Sculpture, Wall Mosaic and Design).

She later attended a Restoration and Conservation course directed by Professor Claude Bassier, at the Centre Internacional de Sauvatage Archéologique – Socre [for the recovery of archaeological sites], at the invitation of the Centre Regional de La Pierre d'Aquitaine, Bordeaux, and a course on the Urban Growth of Porto, at the Popular University of Porto.

Her career as a plastic artist, teacher and instructor began in the 1970's.

She participated in courses and delegations, presenting papers and interventions, in post-graduate programmes; she joined conferences and took part in discussions on education training and heritage, in Portugal and abroad.

Lídia Vieira participated in multidisciplinary team projects on the integration of Sculpture and Design in the Urban and Architectural Environment, for instance: "Frente Urbana para o Parque da Cidade" [urban front for the city], Porto (2nd Prize), "Mobiliário Urbano/Equipamento para o Parque da Cidade" [Urban Furniture/Equipment for the City], Porto (invitation) and "Arranjo de Envolvente urbanística e Espaços de Lazer" [Urban Layout and Leisure Spaces], Matosinhos (invitation).

She was invited to produce work for various urban public spaces (Porto, Matosinhos, São João da Madeira, Viana do Castelo) and entered several competitions. At one point, she became dedicated to Roman mosaics, and was responsible for developing prototypes for stone effects, inspired by the mosaics in Conímbriga. She directed the production of replicas of Roman mosaics.

She collaborated in symposia on Stone Sculpture, helped set up and coordinate symposia and workshops on Stone Urban and Interior Furniture, among which the "International Symposium on Stone Sculpture" (Porto); "Galician-Minho Symposium on Stone Sculpture" (Caminha); "Rediscovering Alabaster" (Miranda do Douro); "Bancos de Jardim" [Park Benches] (1st Prize at the National Exhibition of Art and Design); "7 Fontes em Granito para o Parque da Cidade" [7 Granite Fountains for the City Park] (Porto); "Expositores e Expósitos" [Exhibitors and Exhibits]; "Mobiliário Urbano para o Parque da Cidade" [Urban Furniture for the City Park] (Porto); "Projectos para a Organização de Espaços e Mobiliário de Interior" [Projects for the Organization of Spaces and Interior Furniture]; "Horto das Virtudes" [Garden of Virtues] – furniture and pavement (Porto); "1st Symposium on Stone Sculpture" (Alfândega da Fé); "2nd Symposium on Stone Sculpture – Water and Fountains" (2003) (Alfândega da Fé), organized and sponsored by the City Council and Cooperativa Árvore.

Lídia Vieira collaborated with I.P.P.A.R [Portuguese Institute for Architectural and Archaeological Heritage - now IGESPAR) and with the North Region Centre in the renovation works of the church located within the Fort of São João Baptista da Foz, in Porto. She also studied the Portuguese stones and organized a research and practice workshop in this field.

Lídia Vieira taught at secondary education level, at Higher Education - Art level and in Specialized Art Education. She founded the Cooperativa Centro de Estudo e Trabalho da Pedra [dedicated to the study of stone] and directed it until 1991. She created the Centro de Estudo da Pedra - a centre for the study of stone (CEP – Specialized Artistic Education), which she directed until 1998, and in which she taught Theory of Design, Design Practice and Drawing, and prepared the Study Plan for the Equipment Design and Restoration Courses. She is the author of the project for the FORTECA post-graduate course (training actions for professional and artistic qualification), of the Ministry of Education, and has published papers and illustrations in books such as "Arte, Natureza e Cidade" [Art, Nature and the City], by Jacinto Rodrigues, "Tendências da Escultura Portuguesa actual" [Current Portuguese Sculpture Trends], by Fátima Lambert, "Fernando Fernandes, 47 anos de Leitura" [F.F., 47 years of Reading], a tribute work, "O Euro e os Artistas" [The Euro and the Artists], of the European Central Bank, and "A Celebração do Pó" [A Celebration of Dust], by Eduardo Chiote.

Lídia Vieira died in 2005.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2010)