Sarah Frances Dias
Sarah Frances Dias, architect and artist, born in Oxford and grown up in Madeira, is currently based in Lisbon, where she has her painting studio. She has concluded her PhD thesis in Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon (August 2017), with her research theme being: ’Significance and Meaning in Art: Architecture and Painting'. The research proposed to understand the phenomena of significance and meaning as well as determining the principles that sustain in art, using multiple case studies and theories of both fields. Sarah is also collaborating and assisting with the Colour Laboratory (LabCor-Laboratório da Cor da FAUL) of the University of Lisbon and in 2014 became a published author, presenting her research papers in various international conferences: an AIC conference in Oaxaca Mexico (November 2014), Conference on Architecture in Lisbon, (October, 2014) and Disharmonies Conference (March, 2015), Corbusier Congress in Valencia (November 2015) - with subjects ranging from painting to architecture and a specific focus on meaning, significance colour and form. Her art has been showcased in multiple solo exhibitions in various places around the country, since December 2012, when she decided to show her works to the public for the first time: Timeless Exhibition, at Museu da Casa da Luz (Funchal, December 2015 to January 2016), Beyond Exhibition, at Farol Design Hotel (Cascais, April 2015 to June 2015), Museu Contemporaneo da Casa das Mudas (Funchal, January 2014), Imagine in Funchal (June 2013), Infinity at Hotel the Oitavos in Quinta da Marinha (Cascais, July 2013), Fragments of Dust and Gold at Gallery Bozart, (Principe Real, Lisbon, May 2013) and Envisions in Chiado (Lisbon, December 2012). Some of her paintings belong to various public and private collections, nationally and internationally.
Doutorada com distinção em Arquitectura, com o tema ‘Core Values and principles generators of significance in architecture, painting and sculpture’ pela Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, no final de Julho 2017.
Mestre especializada na Conceptualização e Criação na Arquitectura e nas Artes (pela mesma faculdade), onde também concluiu um curso de estudos avançados em Arquitectura Sagrada.
Investigadora no CIAUD (Centro de Investigação em Arquitectura, Urbanismo e Design) na Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa.
É Arquitecta, exercendo como freelancer, e artista com várias exposições individuais e colectivas em várias partes do país.
Publicou um livro ‘O Ser Criativo I: Maneiras de olhar, ver, sentir, imaginar - Logos’, em coautoria com o Professor Rui Barreiros Duarte, em 2016.
É investigadora, tendo apresentado várias comunicações em congressos e conferências internacionais, bem como vários artigos em revistas ciêntificas, sobre a sua área de investigação: o significado e os seus valores e princípios na arquitectura, pintura e escultura; a relação entre as artes, a emoção, a poesia e a espiritualidade como articuladores do significado das artes, a importância da cor, as propriedades dos espaços significantes, entre outros.
É escritora, com várias contribuições a nível internacional maioritariamente sobre a arte contemporânea.
Projectos
Significance in Art and Architecture
Colour as Spiritual Significance
Education
DOCTORATE DEGREE
OCTOBER 2013 - JULY 2017
Doctor in Architecture (qualified with Distinction)
Specialisation in theory and practise: field of aesthetics
Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon
Thesis Title: Core values and principles generators of significance in architecture, painting and sculpture
MASTERS DEGREE
SEPTEMBER 2008 - SEPTEMBER 2010
Master in Architecture (18 of 20 grade average)
Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon
Thesis Title: Conceptualisation and Idea: Crystallising an Order
SPECIALISATION DEGREE
SEPTEMBER 2009 – FEBRUARY 2010
Specialist in Sacred Architecture (16 of 20 grade average)
Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon
BACHELOR DEGREE
SEPTEMBER 2005 – JULY 2010
Bachelor in Architecture: Architect (15 of 20 grade average)
Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon
CPE
OCTOBER 2007 - MAY 2008
Certificate of Proficiency in English (A grade)
University of Cambridge
SPECIALIST
MARCH 2014
Abstract Landscape Watercolour Course (A grade)
Art Academy, London
A LEVELS
SEPTEMBER 2002 – JULY 2005
A Levels (Secundário): in Portuguese, Mathematics, Geometry, Arts, History of Art, English (19 of 20 grade average)
Liceu Jaime Moniz, Funchal, Madeira Island
Art Exhibitions
Painting and Drawing
AUGUST 2016
Light Art Installation (collective exhibition)
Aura Colour Light Festival, Sintra, Portugal
DECEMBER 2015 - FEBRRUARY 2016
Timeless
Museu Empresa da Electricidade, Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal
APRIL 2015 - JUNE 2015
Beyond
Hotel Farol Design Hotel, Cascais, Portugal
FEBRUARY 2015 - ONGOING
Gallery Representation
Galeria Traço, Campo de Ourique, Lisbon, Portugal
SEPTEMBER 2014
The Sea (collective exhibition)
Museu da Marinha, Lisbon, Portugal
DECEMBER 2013 - MARCH 2014
The Vast and Meaningful Void
Museu de Arte Contemporanea Casa das Mudas, Madeira Island, Portugal
SEPTEMBER 2013 - NOVEMBER 2013
Imagine
Teleféricos da Madeira S.A., Avenida do Mar, Madeira Island, Portugal
JUNE 2013
Infinity
Hotel The Oitavos, Quinta da Marinha, Cascais, Portugal
FEBRUARY 2013 - MARCH 2013
Fragments of Dust and Gold
Galeria Bozart, Principe Real, Lisbon, Portugal
DECEMBER 2012
Envisions
Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal
Professional Experience
Writer, Architecture and other Collaborations
AUGUST 2017 – ONGOING
Freelance Writer: Art and Aesthetics
Art Story Foundation: Online Webpage
New York, United State
MARCH 2015 – OCTOBER 2016
Freelance Designer: Fashion and Branding Development
Lisbon, Portugal
JANUARY 2014 – ONGOING
Freelance Architect
Madeira Island and Lisbon, Portugal
Collaborator and Researcher of Genealogy
Lisbon, Portugal
JANUARY 2016 - ONGOING
Assistant Architect: Saraiva e Associados
Funchal, Madeira Island and Lisbon, Portugal
JANUARY 2012 - SEPTEMBER 2012
Intern Architect: Atelier Caires
Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal
FEBRUARY 2011- DECEMBER 2011
Researcher, Collaborator and Organisation
Faculty Professional Experience
Researcher, Collaborator and Organisation
MAY 2017 - ONGOING
Member of the Organising Committee
AIC Lisboa 2018 Congress: Colour and Human Comfort
Associação Portuguesa da Cor & International Colour Assoc.
OCTOBER 2016 – ONGOING
Researcher (contributor)
Centro de Investigação em Arquitectura, Urbanismo e Design. Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade de Lisboa.
OCTOBER 2016
Member of CIAUD (Research Centre: Centro de Investigação em Arquitectura, Urbanismo e Design)
MARCH 2016 - JUNE 2016
Member of the Executive and Organising Committee Encontro e Celebração dos 12 anos do Laboratório da Cor - O Futuro da Investigação em Cor e Luz em Portugal
DECEMBER 2015 – ONGOING
Member of Associação Portuguesa da Cor
MARCH 2015 – ONGOING
Researcher (contributor)
Colour Laboratory: Exper*Croma - Módulo de Experimentação Perceptual da Cor e do Espaço, Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade de Lisboa.
MARCH 2015 – OAssistant Collaborator and Monitor
Colour Laboratory: Exper*Croma - Módulo de Experimentação Perceptual da Cor e do Espaço, Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade de Lisboa.
MAY 2017 - ONGOING
Member of the Scientific Committee
AIC Lisboa 2018 Congress: Colour and Human Comfort
Associação Portuguesa da Cor & International Colour Assoc.
Scientific Presentations
Oral Communications, Congresses and Scientific Meetings
8 AND 9 OCTOBER 2017
The art and architecture of inner progress: Four Significances in contemporary creations, International Congress Proportion, (Dis) Harmonies, and Identity; Bari, Italy.
4 AND 5 SEPTEMBER 2017
Colour as Spiritual Significance in Contemporary Artistic and Architectural Creation, XIII Conferenza del Colore, Centro Congressi Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy.
JANUARY 2017
Além da perspectiva: definir a intemporalidade e o infinito, Colóquio Cartografias do olhar, Lisbon, Faculdade de Arquitetura de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
21 OCTOBER 2016
Contemporary Utopia’s in Art and Architecture: Searching for Spiritual Significance in the work John Pawson and Anselm Kiefer, International Congress Proportion, (Dis) Harmonies, and Identity, Fundação Oriente, Lisbon.
18 NOVEMBER 2015
Seminar: Lab*Cor 2015.
Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa.
MARCH 2015
Significance, Architecture and Art
In: PhD Class
Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa;
15 OCTOBER 2015
Atmospheres, Proportions and Harmonies: Form and Colour in the work of J.M.W. Turner, International Congress Proportion, (Dis) Harmonies, and Identity, Fundação Oriente, Lisbon.
OCTOBER 2014
A Arquitectura como arte no espaço espiritual de Tadao Ando, Conference Arquitecturas do Mar, da Terra e do Ar - Arquitectura e Urbanismo na Geografia e na Cultura, Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
POSTERS
3 TO 5 JULY 2017
Significance in Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Encontro Nacional com a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Centro de Congressos de Lisboa, 3 a 5 Julho, 2017,
NOVEMBER 2014
Significance and creation: Emotion and the primacy of colour in art (architecture and painting), Conference AIC.
2014 Interim Meeting, ‘Colour, Culture, Identity: past, present and future’, Oaxaca, Mexico
Scientific Publications
Research, Various Publications
DOCTORATE THESIS
AUGUST 2017
DIAS, Sarah Frances (2017). Core values and principles generators of significance in architecture, painting and sculpture. Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal. Online: https://www.repository.utl.pt/handle/10400.5/14116?mode=full
MASTERS THESIS
SEPTEMBER 2010
DIAS, Sarah Frances (2010). Conceptualização e Ideia: A Cristalização da Ordem. Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal;
MAY 2015
books
DIAS, Sarah Frances & DUARTE, Rui Barreiros (2015). O Ser Criativo, Caleidoscópio Editora, Lisbon, Portugal
OCTOBER 2017
proceedings of scientific meetings
DIAS, Sarah Frances (2017) ‘The art and architecture of inner progress: four significances of contemporary creations’, International Congress Proportion, (Dis) Harmonies, and Identity; Bari, Italy.
SEPTEMBER 2017
DIAS, Sarah Frances & DURÃO, Maria João (2017) ‘Colour as Spiritual Significance in Contemporary Artistic and Architectural Creation’, XIII Conferenza del Colore, Centro Congressi Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy.
21 JANUARY 2017
DIAS, Sarah Frances & DURÃO, Maria João (2017) ‘Além da perspectiva: definir a intemporalidade e o infinito ’, Colóquio Cartografias do olhar, Lisbon, Faculdade de Arquitetura de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
OCTOBER 2016
DIAS, Sarah Frances (2016) ‘Contemporary Utopia’s in Art and Architecture: Searching for Spiritual Significance in the work John Pawson and Anselm Kiefer’, International Congress Proportion, (Dis) Harmonies, and Identity, Fundação Oriente, Lisbon.
OCTOBER 2015
DIAS, Sarah Frances & DURÃO, Maria João (2015) ‘Atmospheres, Proportions and Harmonies: Form and Colour in the work of J.M.W. Turner’, International Congress Proportion, (Dis) Harmonies, and Identity, Fundação Oriente, Lisbon.
JULY 2015
DIAS, Sarah Frances & DURÃO, Maria João (2015) ‘Architecture and Art: La Ronchamp’s symbiosis as a ‘total work of art’ ‘, Le Corbusier: 50 years later, International Congress, Universidad Politécnica de Valência.
NOVEMBER 2014
DIAS, Sarah Frances & DURÃO, Maria João (2014) ‘Significance and creation: Emotion and the primacy of colour in art (architecture and painting)’, Conference AIC 2014 Interim Meeting, ‘Colour, Culture, Identity: past, present and future’, Oaxaca, Mexico. Proceedings AIC 2014 Interim Meeting, ‘Colour, Culture, Identity: past, present and future’, p 121
OCTOBER 2014
DIAS, Sarah Frances & DURÃO, Maria João (2014) ‘A Arquitectura como arte no espaço espiritual de Tadao Ando’, Conference Arquitecturas do Mar, da Terra e do Ar - Arquitectura e Urbanismo na Geografia e na Cultura, Lisbon. Proceedings ‘Arquitecturas do Mar, da Terra e do Ar - Arquitectura e Urbanismo na Geografia e na Cultura’, Vol. III, ‘Cidades Desejadas e Sonhadas, Ideias de Amanha’, 1st Edition, Academia de Escolas de Arquitectura e Urbanismo de Lingua Portuguesa, pp 182 – 189. ISBN 978-150-2424-952
OCTOBER 2017
peer reviewed journals
DIAS, Sarah Frances (2017) ‘Collaborations and Connections between the Arts of Architecture, Painting and Sculpture: New artistic fields and shares significances’. Convergências Art Journal. Porto, Portugal. (waiting for further details)
SEPTEMBER 2017
DIAS, Sarah Frances (2017) ‘Cidade e Arte Pública: Novas Dinâmicas, Novos Significados’. Espaços Vividos, Espaços Construídos. Lisbon, Portugal. (waiting for further details).
Architectural Projects
Architecture & Interior Design (Freelancer, most relevant)
RESIDENTIAL
JANUARY 2016 - MAY 2017
The Rock House
Architect: conceptual phase until licensing of a home with 400 sq. meters. Funchal, Madeira Island
HOSPITALITY
SEPTEMBER 2014 - DECEMBER 2014
The Valleys Boutique Hotel
Architect: conceptual phase, and economical studies of a small boutique hotel in Alentejo, Portugal
MEDICAL CLINIC
MARCH 2013 - JUNE 2014
Medical Dental Clinic
Architect and interior designer: responsible for interior re-design, renovation, conceptual development, and construction supervision of the final outcome.
Funchal, Madeira Island
URBAN
AUGUST 2012
Urban Congress Center
Architect: conceptual phase of a 15.000 sq. meter congress centre in Angola, Africa. (S+A architects).
RESIDENTIAL
MARCH 2012
House in Uganda
Architect and Interior design: interior design of the interiors of 500 sq. meter home, including lighting, staircases, all materials and furniture, Uganda, Africa. (S+A architects).
HOSPITALITY
SEPTEMBER 2011 - DECEMBER 2011
Luxury Botanical Hotel
Architect: conceptual and licensing phase, for a 40 room extension in a botanical garden Hotel, Madeira Island (Atelier Caires)
OTHERS
2013, 2014
Concept Restaurant, Designer Shop, Apartment block (5000 sq. mt), and others.
Architect, Client Interaction: conceptual and licensing phase.
Personal Skills
LANGUAGE SPOKEN
OTHER LANGUAGE(S)
Portuguese and English - Proficient (spoken and written)
French, Spanish, Italian - Basic understanding and communication.
ARTISTIC SKILS
Proficient in:
Painting: Oil, Acrylic and Watercolour techniques
Drawing: Charcoal, Pen, Ink, Pencil, and others.
SOCIAL SKILLS AND COMPETENCES
Good communication skills gained through presentation of work in conferences, student interaction and presentations at faculty.
ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS AND COMPETENCES
Leadership (good at coordinating projects with other people)
Management (organising and curating exhibitions in independent venues and gallery settings)
Good command of office suite (word processor, spread sheet, presentation software)
Very good command of Photoshop and AutoCad.
Medium understanding of 3d generating programs (Rhino)
Very good command of social media tools developed for personal artistic profile
MEMBERSHIPS
Member of CIAUD (Centro de Investigação em Arquitectura, Urbanismo e Design)
Member of the Portuguese Architectural Association: Ordem dos Arquitectos (OA)
Member of Associação Portuguesa da Cor (APC)