Barbara Gabriac, a professor of applied arts at Saint-Géraud high school, unveils some of the projects carried out with the DN MADE classes during the 2022-2023 school year. More than a school year, a stimulating journey through professional art and design practices!
Lab anatomy
Professors: Barbara Gabriac, Frédéric Comtet, Frédéric Le Flaher
The Clermont-Ferrand short film festival is the most important global cinematographic event dedicated to short films.
Within this framework, the lab offered a selection of audiovisual works exploring new cinematic spaces. The project entrusted to our students (DN MADE 3 and Bac Pro AMA Multimédia Visual Communication) consisted of producing graphic images in response to these videos.
The Gilbert Gaillard Hall has welcomed this work for a public exhibition.
Let's take the scenic route, let's shape our imagination
The «Intermade» projects involve students from our three DN MADE options: graphic design, digital, and materials.
From a harvest made around Aurillac, the first-year DN MADE students experimented with a mediation device that testifies, informs, and educates a sensory space. They created an installation on the theme of the trace.
This project was also nourished by an encounter with visual artist Thomas Tronel-Gauthier. In residence at the Muséum des volcans d’Aurillac, this artist drew inspiration from the paleontology collections, as well as the natural environments of Cantal, to revisit the materiality of fossil collections (exhibition A sea of mountains on the ruins of the volcano).
Incidents and phenomena
Professors: Barbara Gabriac, Bruno Verger
Second-year students met photographer Nicolas Giraud at his exhibition at Les Écuries in Aurillac.
They were able to discuss with the artist about their working method, their medium (photography), their influences, and their reflections on the questions «What do you see?» or «Who signs?». The students also discussed the connection with a constantly changing territory.
Neighborhood Journal: Artifacts of a Neighborhood Life Testimony
Professors: Barbara Gabriac, Frédéric Comtet
The project: to meet the residents of the Saint-Géraud neighborhood in Aurillac, to question them, listen to them, and collect their testimonies: anecdotes, memories, neighborhood news... Using the raw material from this collection, the DN MADE 2 students created a neighborhood newspaper.
As part of this project, the students also met with the elected official responsible for eco-citizenship at the Aurillac town hall.
Ornamental mutation
Professors: Barbara Gabriac, Christine Cély-Soulier
Objective: To tell the story of the evolution of our plant environment through a graphic pattern, taking into account current events (climate change, scientific advances, soil pollution, rising water levels, etc.). And to kick off this project: a visit to a nursery in Aurillac!
Wall of Rage
Professors: Barbara Gabriac, Manuel Couette
In 1960, the artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) experimented with the notion of «shooting,» inviting visitors to throw darts at her representation of Saint Sebastian, and even tested rifle shooting on paint bags! Many years later, during an exhibition, she presented a «wall of rage,» a list of targets she aimed at.
From this work, students were asked to, in turn, construct a list of societal and environmental demands, then to draw an engaged image to print it using screen printing.
The Cantal tartan
Professors: Barbara Gabriac, Christine Cély-Soulier
Cantal is a mountainous department, a bit wild and far from everything, renowned for its pure air as well as its harsh winters. Its moorland landscapes, its infinitely green plateaus, and its wide horizons are strongly reminiscent of Scotland. The Scots, however, maintain a very strong connection with their history and traditions, among which is tartan.
In the land of the Cantal highlands, explore traditional Highland craftsmanship.
Jules Verne in Aurillac
Professors: Barbara Gabriac, Frédéric Comtet, Bruno Verger
Jules Verne's adventures are a pretext to showcase this literature, essentially editorial and cinematic, through a public space installation.
The 14 ground-floor windows of the establishment, on the Collège street side, have been used to tell these stories in images.
Window shopping
Professor Barbara Gabriac
Exploration of black and white typographic design from signage that plays with words and often has a humorous tone.
Board the ship
Professor Barbara Gabriac
Docking in the town of Aurillac is the starting point for an exploration of the city...
So! How does man inhabit the landscape with words?
The students proposed a photo studio staging to represent their generation: the «Zoomers.».
So, it was through this photographic work that the students presented themselves to the residents.
Trip to Milan and Florence
Professors: Barbara Gabriac, Christine Cély-Soulier
On the agenda, among other things:
In Milan:
- The Prada Foundation, exhibition space for contemporary art.
- The Museum of Cultures (MUDEC) in Milan, dedicated to world cultures, which exhibits ethnographic collections in avant-garde architecture.
In Florence:
- The Gucci Garden, located inside the Palazzo della Mercanzia, which traces the history of the Gucci house's creations.
- The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, on Piazza del Duomo, with its dome, the largest in the world, covered with 3,600 m² of frescoes!
The students also had the opportunity to participate in a screen printing and block printing workshop with Italian artisans.
And now...
Lycée Saint-Géraud in Aurillac, it's all these projects, and much more! So... interested in embarking on the DN MADE adventure?