Galeria Municipal do Porto

This guided tour of the “Learning to teach, teaching to learn with Elvira Leite” exhibition, led by teacher and curator Lúcia Almeida Matos.

Lúcia Almeida Matos is a retired professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Porto, where she developed her academic career. In the late 1990s, while she was Director of the Soares dos Reis National Museum, she invited Elvira Leite to consult on the educational service. The two have been friends and collaborators ever since. In 2016, together with Susana Lourenço Marques, she organised the exhibition 'Quem te ensinou? — Ninguém, revisiting the creative expression project conceived and implemented by Elvira Leite with the residents of Largo de Pena Ventosa in Porto following the SAAL extension. In 2020, she included Elvira Leite's work 'Aldeia Transmontana (1964)' in 'Vistas de Exposição – Major Exhibitions of ESBAP 1952–1968'. On this guided tour of the 'Learning to teach, teaching to learn with Elvira Leite' exhibition, Lucia Almeida Matos will share her discoveries about Elvira Leite's remarkable work as an educator. She will also talk about the painting of a young student at the School of Fine Arts in the 1960s and her recent return to painting after fifty years.

While Elvira Leite, Mariana Caló e Francisco Queimadela were sharing a space at Galeria Municipal do Porto, the idea arose to demonstrate the many similarities in the images produced by the three artists. Elements repeat and multiply to create messages and visual codes. Painting is seen as a starting point for many things, such as a film, an installation or even a mural. That's right! We invite you to select modules, colours, symbols and geometries from both exhibitions and combine them to create a visual composition. The result will be a collective mural painted with the help of BOA Arts at the Concha Acústica dos Jardins do Palácio de Cristal.

To participate, simply show up at one of “The Space in Between” sessions:

• 08.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 (Open workshop)

• 09.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 e 15:00–17:00 (Workshop for organised groups)

• 15.01.2026: 14:30–16:30 (Workshop for organised groups)

• 16.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 e 15:00–17:00 (Workshop for organised groups)

 

‘The Space in Between’ was born from a dialogue between two generations of educators and artists for Elvira’s Leite exhibition Learning to teach, teaching to learn. It is the common ground where pedagogical practice becomes creation and mediation is affirmed as a shared experience. Each session offers an experimental and reflective journey, celebrating the vitality of Elvira Leite's educational practices.

‘The Space in Between’ is a creative workshop for all ages, running from 16 December 2025 to 16 January 2026. It will be led by the BOA Arts mediation and artistic creation project team with Cristina Camargo, as well as the mediation teams from ping!, – the GMP Gallery Incursion Programme and the Porto Municipal Libraries.
Our aim is for the exhibition room to become a place where people can play and learn, paint and write, observe and listen, and draw and paint. The contents of the books will adorn the walls, and the two-dimensional will become three-dimensional constructions. Let's imagine what 'The Space in Between’ can become!

SESSIONS FOR ORGANISED GROUPS: 

• 16.12.2025 + 17.12.2025 + 18.12.2025: 15:00–17:00
with Graça Lacerda, Helena Vieira and Verónica Magalhães / Bibliotecas Municipais do Porto

• 17.12.2025 + 18.12.2025: 11:00–13:00
with João Ramos, Matilde Seabra and Pedro Galante / ping!

• 19.12.2025: 11:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:00
with Cristina Camargo, Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos / BOA Arts 

• 23.12.2025: 11:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:00
with João Ramos, Matilde Seabra and Pedro Galante / ping!

• 30.12.2025: 11:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:00
with João Ramos, Matilde Seabra and Pedro Galante / ping!

• 06.01.202 + 07.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:00
with João Ramos, Matilde Seabra and Pedro Galante / ping! 

• 09.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:00
with Cristina Camargo, Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos / BOA Arts

• 13.01.2026 + 14.01.2026: 10:30 and 14:30
with Graça Lacerda, Helena Vieira and Verónica Magalhães / Bibliotecas Municipais do Porto 

• 15.01.2026: 14:30–16:30
with Graça Lacerda, Helena Vieira and Verónica Magalhães / Bibliotecas Municipais do Porto 

• 16.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:00
with Cristina Camargo, Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos / BOA Arts

‘The Space in Between’ was born from a dialogue between two generations of educators and artists for Elvira’s Leite exhibition Learning to teach, teaching to learn. It is the common ground where pedagogical practice becomes creation and mediation is affirmed as a shared experience. Each session offers an experimental and reflective journey, celebrating the vitality of Elvira Leite's educational practices.

‘The Space in Between’ is a creative workshop for all ages, running from December 2025 to January 2026. It will be led by the BOA Arts mediation and artistic creation project team with Cristina Camargo, as well as the mediation teams from ping!, – the GMP Gallery Incursion Programme and the Porto Municipal Libraries. Our aim is for the exhibition room to become a place where people can play and learn, paint and write, observe and listen, and draw and paint. The contents of the books will adorn the walls, and the two-dimensional will become three-dimensional constructions. Let's imagine what 'The Space in Between’ can become!

OPEN SESSIONS

• 20.12.2025: 11:00–13:00
with João Ramos, Matilde Seabra e Pedro Galante / ping!

• 21.12.2025: 11:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:00
with Clara Guinoulhiac / Architoys

• 27.12.2025: 11:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:00
with João Ramos, Matilde Seabra and Pedro Galante / ping!

• 28.12.2025: 11:00–13:00
with Cristina Camargo, Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos / BOA Arts

• 03.01.2026: 11:00–13:00
with João Ramos, Matilde Seabra and Pedro Galante / ping!

• 03.01.2026: 15:30
with Graça Lacerda, Helena Vieira and Verónica Magalhães / Bibliotecas Municipais do Porto 

• 04.01.2026: 11:00–13:00
with Cristina Camargo, Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos / BOA Arts

• 08.01.2026: 11:00–13:00
with Cristina Camargo, Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos / BOA Arts

• 10.01.2026: 11:00–13:00
with João Ramos, Matilde Seabra and Pedro Galante / ping!

• 10.01.2026: 15:30
with Graça Lacerda, Helena Vieira and Verónica Magalhães / Bibliotecas Municipais do Porto -

• 11.01.2026: 11:00–13:00
with Cristina Camargo, Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos / BOA Arts 

• 17.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:00
with Cristina Camargo, Joana Nascimento and Sofia Santos / BOA Arts

The seminar "Inside and Outside School: Thinking About Education and Art Based on Elvira Leite" is aimed at teachers and educators. Taking place over one day, it features contributions from Amanda Midori, Cat Martins, Joaquim Azevedo, Maria João Vicente, Matilde Seabra, Milice Ribeiro dos Santos and Sofia Victorino.