The value of a residency--Buinho Arts in Messejana, Portugal

For a writer with the freedom to travel, there’s nothing like a residency to concentrate your observations and writing time. This September, I returned to the small Alentejo village of Messejana for the third time. I love this residency and I love the town. This time there were two other writers present, as well as numerous visual artists working in sculpture, drawing, printmaking, and fiber arts. Buinho Arts is a FabLab (what in the US we call a makerspace), and since I was last there they have more laser engravers, lots more 3D printers, a space-age computerized embroidery machine, fancy router, wool punch gun, and the willingness to work with anyone who’s willing to try the machines. Or, use your conventional tools—each house has studio space.

MY STUDIO IN cASA DO AVO—PERFECT FOR AN ARTIST, TOO.

I love living in an old adobe house. This one had a spacious bedroom, comfortable bed—and the sound of the church bells every half hour. Luckily, I loved them! We had a tiled entryway and a little courtyard that also housed the bathroom, with a rooftop clothesline that dried clothes in 15 minutes.

Entryway to Casa do Avo, just off the town square and barely a walk to one of the town’s two grocery stores.

Our courtyard, home to delicious meals in the right weather (that is, when not too hot)

The residency is full of congenial leadership (Carlos Almeida and his delightful wife, Sara Albino), an efficient manager (Monica ReisHugo!!), a mechanical whiz (Hugo!), a team of great volunteers, and, of course, the other residents—inevitably generous, interesting, and talented. Some houses have 3 residents, some two or just one, but we all gather once a week for a sumptuous breakfast, and informally at other times.

The 1th-century pelourinho in the town square

one of the cobblestone streets

messejana’s miseracordia church

At the end of our residencies, there’s an exhibition and/or readings, so I had to consider what to present. At first, I was just writing consecutively, getting my characters into Lisbon and settling them down, but more and more I wanted to work Messejana into the story. I decided to send a few of my characters there in order to make a profit and settle some of their debts. I jumped ahead in the story to write this episode, and strolled just out of town to the ruins of the old Franciscan convent, where I decided my characters would stay. Being able to smell wild fennel, see the goat dung on the road, realize what you could and couldn’t see from various vantage points—far better than just inventing it. Smells and sounds particularly benefit from on-site research. Luckily, I continued factual research and have since revised—Franciscan friars of this particular order hardly spoke, and I had initially had them merrily narrating a story.

Originally built in the 16th century, this church belonging to a franciscan convent was made over in the 18th century. Only its ruins remain.

My reading at Buinho headquarters