L'ATELIER ENFANT PARENT
The Workshop Child-Parent

A singular space: the Workshop

This space is organised in such a way that everything becomes possible, though within a very specific framework. Each child with his parent(s) visits the workshop, we show him where the different materials are and indicate that he can experiment as he likes.

There is a dedicated space for painting, another for clay modelling, another one for wood and handywork, the couch couch.... The family becomes familiar itself with the place  that it may take over. The child finds milestones (everything is always at the same place), he/she becomes autonomous and responsible and participates with the others at running of the workshop. He/she shares and animates this common space by respecting the rules of any life in society.

The Workshop : open for all

    In a neighbourhood  with many social issues, the non for profit organisation T.R.A.C.E.S. took part at the reopening in 2002 of the “Centre Social and Culturel des AMANDIERS“. In this context, the creation of a fine arts studio, open to all, has helped forge social links between the residents of the area and help overcome social inequalities. We work in close collaboration with social workers  and we develop cross sectoral links with other associations of the district. We welcome children from 18 months on with their parents, nanny or grands-parents. Young pre-teens also come very regularly to the workshop. Open to all, this workshop allows not only to build the social fabric, but also to favor a link between generations.

We propose an opening towards the world of art by organizing visits of exhibitions or museums with the families.

Today the workshop has become a place  where local families from the Belleville area are heavily involved. Understanding the significance of our approach, these families are actively engaged in the management of the community organisation and some are members of the Board of Directors and management committee.

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Our Philosophy

°A singular: space

°°The workshop: open to all

°°° Being Parent: towards Awakening and Creativity

°°°The children:

The educational attitude

Our viewpoint

  Leonard's sculpture


  Victor's square

The family is a place for emergence and personality building, crucible of relational and social links. The parents come along with their child to the workshop. Some people create with their child or side by side. Some people share this moment of gazing and others exchange with them without staying necessarily during the whole session. In any case, the visual arts are experienced as enhancers of the child – parent relationship. The playful attitude of the adult enables a privileged encounter with the child, which allows for mutual enjoyment and the sharing of emotions.

By accompanying their child the parents are comforted in the exercice of their educational responsability. In developing their competences, we enable change in a participative process, because they are in charge and we respect the singularity of everybody.

The children

Regular practice of visual arts allows to awaken the curiosity and enrich the imaginary, to structure his personality. This workshop encourages the children to express themselves as a subject. They choose and are autonomous. There is something of a pleasure, in meeting the other and knowing oneself. With assiduity, they quickly understand very fast the sense of this approach and develop in the course of a few weeks a sense of propose. The "game" becomes the I.

They take self-confidence by expressing their interests. This is particularly important for those who had lived failures (particularly in school). This privileged moment shared with the adult allows for an acknowledgment of each and better understanding.

Creativity is only what can define and justify itself as the science of freedom.
 Joseph BEUYS

Creativity as definedbyJoseph BEUYS is the transmission of knowledge in all its forms. Education, as we see it, is the transmission of a methodology individual to each, showing that there are other possibles, other avenues to be explored.

We situate ourselves in an artistic processus; the creative act must be respected and recognized. Each participant is respected in his singularity. There are never value judgment here, we encourage without directing. We develop the concept of ‘do as you please’ far from ‘please others’ or ‘make pretty’, in relation with the adult.

The child's process is at the center of our pedagogy, we favour the dialog and experimentation. The requirement is particular because we help the child to succeed his project technically (the child these accepts constraints easily) and conceptually by reflecting at his side.

As of two years of age, children quickly understand and they arrive to the studio with an idea for a project to realize. Then the enjoyment of the project and its simple or its completion, simple or complex, in the short or the long term, develop in the child the common intellectual mechanisms of any project (cogitation, analysis, critical sense, research and persistence).

Thanks for the translation : Wilhelm Guschlbauer and Thérésia Guschlbauer