An American in Portugal - Serious ceramics

So says Joy Hanford, an immigrant from Bloomington, Indiana, who moved to Portugal in the fall of 2010. Recently I asked the owner of Atelier Retiro, a gem tucked away on a quiet, winding street in the World Heritage city of Guimarães, to share her story with me.

Hanford met her Portuguese husband, a Fulbright scholar when he was working on his Doctorate at Indiana University. Moving overseas first to Setúbal, in 2012 they headed north when her spouse took a teaching position at the University of Minho. After a stint with the European Space Agency out of Madrid, he is now at the University of Porto. Hence the “science” in her slogan.

What about castles? They are ubiquitous in Portugal, and the one in Guimarães is a prime example. Joy and her family live less than ten minutes from the historic city center and, as she puts it, she prefers to use her legs rather than her car, so she has plenty of opportunity to enjoy the legendary landmark.

Asked about her business, Hanford discussed art residencies, opportunities to give oneself an uninterrupted period of time to create, by studying a topic with a teacher or independently. Two weeks to a month, generally. In Joy’s words, “It’s the ability to take out the decision fatigue and maintenance of your life and replace that unpaid, emotional labor with an intense deep-dive study into something you want to do.” She dubs herself a “residency rat” as years ago she went from residency to residency in the States. Now she offers that and much more to others through her enterprise.

Community

Atelier Retiro, which opened in 2020, is a community pottery studio that offers programs from only three hours (the minimum) up to multiple-week programming: four two-week programs, held in the summer. Private lessons are available as well, and with membership, one may use the kiln in the studio. A professional, or someone who has an intermediate-level project, can come and work on it at AR for a flat fee. (Except in the summer, when they are booked with those special programs.) Joy will even help source needed materials for projects.

Classes are for ages twelve and up. In the words of studio assistants Inês and Diogo, “this is serious ceramics” rather than the kind of venue often used to host children’s birthday parties. In fact, the average age of those who do residencies is 49 to 65 or 70; people who can afford it both financially and time-wise. Also, younger students often want credit, which Hanford doesn’t offer.

Patrons come from as near as Porto and as far away as the Netherlands. Two people from the US recently moved to Portugal and chose Guimarães just so they could join a clay community.

“Coming for a pottery class or residency, the first thing we do is take them to Jupiter,” Hanford says, referring to Chapelaria Jupiter, the nearby hat and umbrella store in existence for 102 years. Although the north is known for being rainier than central or southern Portugal, Guimarães is wetter than most people realize. My husband and I discovered this when we left Atelier Retiro and were caught in a cloudburst. We ducked into a café a couple of blocks away to dry off and found we were in the famous Café Milenário in Largo de Toural, next to the wall that proclaims Aqui Nasceu Portugal—Here Portugal Was Born.

Diogo and Inês weren’t always a part of the atelier. But in 2024 Hanford received international funding, affording her the opportunity to bring two talented young people on board. When that funding disappeared only six months later, she faced a challenge: should she close? She offered a local community pottery studio but flipped it into more of a startup realm with an international residency program. How, or should, she proceed? She went online to local and international communities asking for advice—not money—and received great feedback. Joy decided to use personal savings and floated it for six weeks. Then things really began to take shape, pun intended.

When the residency program was set up, the first available scholarship was to be in 2028. Now they are starting their first year with seven full residency scholarships for Portuguese emerging artists to take full two-week residencies in clay, making it one of the largest art scholarship programs functioning outside of public funds.

With her thriving business and family responsibilities, it would seem there’s not much time for hobbies. Yet Hanford loves all manner of physical art, which led her to take a casting class. She draws and paints. An avid reader (delighted that Rosebud Bookshop has come to Porto), she writes novels for fun and has published two children’s books. Naturally, she avails herself of all Guimarães offers: concerts, contemporary art and dance, jazz festivals, and more.

What’s the best part of pottery work? In Hanford’s words, “The noise of your life melts away. It cools and tones down our minds. Come for a Claycation!”

Native New Yorker Tricia Pimental left the US in 2012, later becoming International Living’s first Portugal Correspondent. The award-winning author and her husband, now Portuguese citizens, currently live in Coimbra.

Tricia Pimental