Rui Barreira

Growing up between south Angola and north of Portugal sparked perplexities which later transformed into awareness of social inequalities and appeal of multiculturalism. Pursuing University studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts University of Porto, I obtained a 5-year degree in Design Communication in 2001, with a minor in Graphic Arts. Since then, I’ve been working as a designer and an illustrator until I manage to get may master’s degree in design and Product Development at the Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave – Escola Superior de Design in 2019. The dissertation is entitled “Sketch Thinking – Non-Verbal Ideas in the Territory of Product Design” and explores the sense perception in cognition when we draw, observing his benefits and perils in an era which drawing appears to be forgotten and fast replace by digital solutions. As a researcher at FCT I recently finished my PhD research focus in Teacher-Generated Drawing as Strategy in Theoretical Higher Education in Design. This focuses on the main line of research of Design Communication, exploring Education through Art, Aesthetics and Philosophy, bridging the potential of teacher generated drawing during class and aesthetics theories in a multicultural epoch, teaching by sense perception and emotion through fiction, as a way to research, articulating imaginary dialogues with philosophers Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Dewey, Tolstoy, Gadamer e Eisner. The fieldwork for the doctoral research was carried out over a period of 3 years in the southern Angolan city of Lubango, thus making it possible to investigate the practice of individuals or groups, since each person’s art has the potential to translate a unique world that deserves to be seen. In addition to culminating in a grounded understanding of ideation and study design as forms of intuitive and reflective thinking, but in teaching theory away from the usual investigation of the application of drawing in project teaching. This work consolidated the notion that artistic activities have thrived in the cultural selection of human history due to the gathering of common meanings. The artistic value as a community aggregator and instrument of empowerment was based on Dewey’s Pragmatic Aesthetics. The appeal of interdisciplinary studies, community involvement and social impact resulted in an art-based project that is still under development. I’ve been a Guest Assistant at the Department of Visual Arts at the Instituto Politécnico de Bragança - Escola Superior de Educação, since 2018, where I teach in the Degrees of Art & Design and Animation and Artistic Production the Curricular Units of Design Theory, Introduction to Design I, Design Communication II and Illustration. I have been a Guest Assistant at the Design Department of the Instituto Politécnico do Cávado and at Ave-Escola Técnica Superior Profissional since 2020, where I teach the Curricular Units of Illustration and Graphic Communication at the Fashion Design CTeSP. Also, a Guest Assistant at the Department of Drawing of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, since 2021, where I teach the Curricular Unit of Architectural Drawing I in the Integrated Master of Architecture. I am a Collaborating Researcher member of CIAUD, Research Centre for Architecture, Urbanism and Design, Lisbon School of Architecture, Universidade de Lisboa. As a Designer, several works stand out, such as a book for the President of the Portuguese Republic, Professor Doctor Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the uniform developed for Porto Metro. As a visual artist, the official portrait of D. Jorge Ortiga, Archbishop Primate of Braga, stands out and the coverage drawn in court of cases like ‘Apito Dourado’. Fashion Illustrator for the CITEVE Trend Catalogs (2003 to 2006), which led to began my career as a trainer in 2011 at CITEVE in the subject area of Drawing for design/textile/fashion courses such as Human Figure Drawing,