Com Fusion, is a play on words, combining english and portuguese languages. It means With Fusion; the fusion, artistic styles and techniques, and the spirit of collaboration that crosses geographical and cultural boundaries.

The studio is a collaboration between Nicole Curcio and Mariana Sampaio and will be located in the Silver Coast region of Portugal, about an hour north of Lisbon. We’re zeroing in on the location but plan to offer memberships to local artists, classes, workshops and space for resident artists to work and teach.

While we search for the perfect location, we’ll be using Mariana’s studio in Caldas da Rainha to host classes and workshops.

In the meantime we are raising money for studio equipment through raffling off artist collaborations.

If you’ve ever dreamed of traveling and immersing yourself in your art, while exploring the culture and traditional techniques of a different country, a stay in the countryside of Portugal may be the thing for you.

You’ll have access to a small ceramic studio on site, and the larger community studio to make work. Residency programs are in the works, but we’d love to chat with you if you’re interested in a work trade arrangement, or coming to stay in the first year at a discounted rate while we get things up and running.

We’ll also be hosting small retreats of 6-8 people starting in spring 2025. If you have a week long program you’d like to teach, let’s talk!

As we work to secure the right location for the community clay studio, we are also working on finding a space for a gallery to represent the artists that work with the studio. We plan to show work of local Portuguese artists, and visiting artists from all over the world.