Ateliers d'Arts plastiques avec Spire Création

Our rural workshop, founded by the Spire Création Association, is celebrating its 26th anniversary.

Originally established in Ligny-en-Brionnais, south of Saône-et-Loire between Marcigny and Charlieu, the Association welcomed its pupils and trainees for many years in a renovated barn with whitewashed walls. Some people didn’t hesitate to travel from Gueugnon, Mâcon, Roanne, Paray-le-Monial and Marcigny to take part in the sessions and courses.

Today, our rural workshop is based at a place called Pont d’Argent in Saint-Émiland, with the same aim: to awaken the creative potential that lies dormant within each of us, to develop training in the visual arts, to contribute to leisure activities and to foster intergenerational relationships. Indeed, what could be more heart-warming than seeing adults of all ages coming together with young people and children! There’s something for everyone, and the exchanges are enriching! Our pupils and course participants currently come from Beaune, Lyon, Montceau, Blanzy, Montbard, St Léger-sous-Beuvray and St Léger-sur-Dheune, St Jean de Trézy, Mesvres, Autun, Couches, Epinac and Le Creusot.

For 2026–2027, we are offering two types of workshops open to everyone, regardless of age or ability:
Saturday and Monday afternoon workshops throughout the year
These workshops take place every fortnight. To make the most of the workshops, we recommend signing up for the whole year. Payment can be made in full upon registration or in three instalments. Cash and bank transfers are accepted.

Three-day courses during the school holidays in the autumn half-term, February, Easter, July and August
These take place over three days in a friendly, cosy setting (a stone house), with a large garden full of flowers and trees available for breaks. A friendly packed lunch, with the option to have it reheated.

Who will be leading the course?
MICHEYLE MARLIER is co-founder of the Association les Ateliers Spire Création. She is an art teacher, a facilitator of community education projects and also a storyteller. She is a fashion designer – a childhood dream she has realised. She is also a vocational trainer for young people and adults.
She takes great pleasure in supporting each course participant, as she loves sharing her knowledge and helping to ensure the success of individual and/or group projects. All techniques can be covered: watercolour, ink, charcoal, pastel, red chalk, acrylic, gouache, mixed media, etc.
Depending on your interests, a personalised programme will be suggested in advance, along with advice on which small items of equipment to bring. A list of materials can be provided on request.

For children aged 5 and over, workshops and courses often begin with a story chosen to stimulate the imagination. This then gives free rein to creative expression: drawing, painting with gouache or watercolours, collages, making little books, postcards and masks, depending on the children’s preferences.

For teenagers and adults, the workshops enable you to develop your artistic sensibilities through an understanding of shapes and volumes and their representation, the use of colour and harmony, imagination and creativity, and references to art history…
No subject is off-limits and, depending on your interests, the workshop welcomes the following subjects on its easels: animals of the countryside or the jungle, boats, landscapes, still lifes or floral arrangements… documentary studies of objects found in nature… Life drawing or fashion illustration, etc.

For teenagers, preparation for entry to art college can be provided during the workshops or in additional sessions, in line with the criteria required by the institution. Upon completion, an artistic portfolio may be presented to a panel of judges. In addition, preparation for the oral interview may be arranged to strengthen the application.

How our association, Ateliers Spire Création, operates
Our articles of association were registered in the Official Journal on 13 July 2000. We have been in existence for 26 years.
All our income is reinvested in the purchase of materials (books, art magazines, supplies, canvases, paper, easels, etc.) and contributes, on a pro rata basis, towards the workshop’s heating and maintenance costs.
Our association has never applied for a grant in order to preserve its independence and has therefore been self-financing since its inception.

As part of the Ateliers Spire Création, MICHEYLE MARLIER has collaborated with teachers from the state education system and the private sector on numerous art projects aimed at children aged 3–12. She has taken part in various artistic projects within the network of associations in the Brionnais and Autunois regions.
She has exhibited with the Artistes Français at the Grand Palais in Paris, in Parisian galleries and in the provinces. She recently presented to the public, as part of the Collectif Autunois’s “Portraits croisés” series, an exhibition on the theme “Women: Everyday Heroines”, enriched by the life stories of these women and a sociological perspective on the role of women.
She has won numerous awards. She no longer exhibits her work, preferring to devote herself to her pupils and trainees, to her studio work and to portraiture, which she is particularly fond of.

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