Every old place has its guardians. In Portugal, she is the Moura Encantada, an enchanted woman said to linger near wells, caves, ruins, and buried treasure. Part protector, part apparition, part spirit of the land itself, she becomes our guide into a richly layered mixed-media artwork that is part portrait, part relic, and part enchanted object. In this four-day collaborative workshop, Andrea Matus and Michael deMeng will each bring their distinct mixed-media languages to the legend of the Moura. Andrea will begin by guiding you through the creation of a legendary figure, using collage, pattern, portrait fragments, veils, architectural references, and symbolic layering. You’ll learn her approach to constructing luminous, excavated surfaces that make your creation feel like an artifact pulled from a forgotten shrine.

Michael will then guide the transformation of that surface into an evocative relic through assemblage. You’ll learn Michael’s secrets for incorporating found objects, dimensional elements, faux aging, and narrative construction. By the time you are done, your work will have the weathered authority of something that might have survived for centuries. With the folklore of the Mouras Encantadas as our starting point, together we will create a contemporary relic of place, one that honours the stories and atmosphere of Portugal while weaving image, surface, and symbol into a personal guardian, somewhere between portrait, artifact, and shrine.