The history and purpose of our project : a fusion of the visual arts and music

 Young Masters of Arts  aims to :

Let everyone enjoy cultural activities and practice art, appreciate one’s environmental and architectural  heritage through :

-          an interaction between the arts,

-          an interaction between the arts and science,

-          a dialogue between generations, children and adults, amateurs and professionals

-          a solidarity, a convivial or humanitarian event ,some national and international exchanges, from region to region, between rural and urban communities. 

Promote our youth’s talent as a true value, gather the adult world around the cause of children and adolescents in partnership with all artistic, political and scientific authorities which are compatible with the protection of young people.

Béatrice Cofield, Founder and Vice-President of Young Masters of Arts- Jeunes Maîtres des Arts

Our history began and unravels through a fusion of the visual arts and music

Béatrice Cofield, artist and educator, born in France in Indre, a French and British National, centers her research on the concept of rhythm, a tight link between the visual arts and music:

Initially trained as a lawyer at the University of Paris II, I discovered art as a personal mean of expression and progressively became an advocate for the arts, teaching in an American university ( the American University of Europe in Bushey )and in a primary school ( St Hilda’s School, Bushey) in the quality of an art coordinator and artist in residence from 1991 to 2006.

From 1979 to 1991, my work was awarded by a first exhibition at the Mandragore Internationale in Paris, a Diploma of Honour from the Museum of Modern Art in Guadeloupe from the Painter Soskine, the certificate of the International Festival of Graphic Art in Osaka, the Grand Prix Aquarelle de l’Aisnes in France, the Bronze, silver medals and the Diploma of Silver guilt Medal of the International Academy of Lutèce in Paris ( 1985- 86).

Defining strategies to share creativity, the numerous awards my pupils acquired, the various professional partnerships I sought in order to promote our youth’s talent, remain for me the most vital angle of my work.

From 19991, I organized many exhibitions for children in local Galeries, shopping centres, libraries and museums in the Uk ( In Bushey, Stanmore and Watford in Hertfordshire).

In 1996, I presented this point of view to the National Gallery in London at a conference for the primary sector: “art exhibitions ought to be open to the very young as Young Masters of Art in their own right; their art ought to be recognized by the adult world and adorn public places, national, local galleries and museums as a valuable art form which renews our perception of the world…..freedom of expression precedes and boosts the mastery of technical skills….Obviously, spontaneity and expression cannot be defined as art alone but all linear approaches to the teaching of techniques are void…..Children who learn to consciously project their emotions through line or colour, use their hand as an instrument, simultaneously  boost their confidence,  power of expression ,  analytical skills and creativity.”

In 1999, I exhibited some british children aged from 7 to eleven in the Museum Espace Beaujon in in the 8^th Quarter in Paris, in partnership with the Conservatoire Camille Saint Saens whose violin teacher, Mrs Gaunet consecrated the children’s paintings by a youth violin ensemble’s performance.

The late Head of Strings at the Guildhall School of Music in London, awarded this link between the visual arts and music by assessing the children’s paintings in musical terms and recognizing in them an image carried by emotion and rhythm. His pupil, Caroline Florenville,

Presently violin performer in l’Orchestre des Siècles and l’ Opéra éclaté pionnered and defended this link as a  violin performer in Paris and in the UK.

From 1999 to 2005, exchange art exhibitions and concerts in partnership with musicians from the Conservatoire Camille Saint Saëns in Paris and the Guildhall School of Music in London in Stanmore Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital whose Patron, the late Queen Mother and Mrs Chirac, Head of the Foundation of Hospitals in France, gave me their support and congratulations.

This venture was awarded as a continuing project by a certificate of merit by Sir Serrota, Director of the Gallery Tate Modern and Patron of the Duffield Art Awards.

Two Patrons were invited to support the concert and exhibitions at Stanmore Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital : Sharon Gee, an abstract painter from her late Queen Mother’s private collection and Roy Pickering, artist and lecturer at the Tate Modern and Tate Britain Galleries.

Mr Roy Pickering, pioneered the initiative of bringing in schools a gallery education, his experience as a professional artist and educator at the Tate Modern and Tate Britain.He helped me to coordinate achildren’s exhibition regrouping three schools and some young artists aged from 8 to 18, in the Town Hall of the 8^th quarter with a performance of the Ensemble de cordes de Madame Gaunet. Mr Pickering invited his pupils to work while thinking about music while encouraging all individual choices of the musical themes .

Some interactive Workshops and concerts between painting and music with Mr Pickering, myself, Mr Walter Fabeck, Contemporary Musician and Director at the Bank Keys Studios in London, Petyer Roby, Violin Teacher, led to a more intensive research on the concept of rhythm and a new approach to visual or musical composition. 

Mr Walter Fabeck’s approach to creativity and ability to introduce musical composition to the very young in interaction with painting became the cornerstone of this research.

An interaction between the Masters of Music and the young painters and young musicians in musical  and visual composition

En 2009 et 2010, I pursued further the illustration of  music in three  French primary schools, in the Loiret, in Germigny des Prés, in Bouzy La Forêt, and in Jargeau. More than 500 paintings, in Bouzy La Forêt and in Jargeau illustrated the music of Walter Fabeck named Space in Flight. Mr Fabeck responded to the children’s work by several musical improvisations whilst the children’s paintings were projected on motion on a big screen. During the National Music Celebration Day  in Bouzy La Foret in 2009, the children composed a piece in response to Mr Walter Fabeck’s improvisation.

Within this research, my partnership with the Arts Dyslexia Trust was most rewarding as it integrated a research on new approaches of spatial and 3D visual Thinking, on the way to teach mathematics through art, the intuitive creation of patterns perceived in three dimensions, thus establishing a link with music.

Art, music, sculpture and poetry, an interaction between generations and various forms of expression, a dialogue between amateurs and professionals, a community learning venture :

Theatre and exhibitions :

 In 2009 and 2010, in partnership with Mr Belloir, cultural delegate in Bouzy La Forêt, myself and Antonin Fontaine, a young coming up artist , invited the actors to visualize their role in terms of form and colour and engaged them in the concept of their decor.

The performances of the Troupe Espoirs de Madame Daubin, regroupant des jeunes âgés de 7 à 15 and was also linked to some exhibitions which inspired our young artists.

Musique, dessin, sculpture et les rencontres artistiques

En 2010, in partnership with the association la Fraternelle and her President Mrs Jobert towards the setting up of the Rencontres artistiques de Bouzy La Forêt, I invited Marc Habarnau, sculptor , to help the children to translate the children’s drawings completed in school from Mr Fabeck’s music into a ceramic fresco and Thierry Chassiot, Maître des Ecoles to engage them in poetry workshops. And our exhibition, with an interactive workshop between the children and Mr Walter Fabeck was enriched by the sculptures and paintings of the adults, professionals and amators: Jean-Paul Ferron, aquarelliste, Marc Habarnau, sculptor, Thierry Chassiot with the poetry workshops, Alain Auger , sculptor with wood and the amators represented by the workshops of the St Laurent from Bouzy La Forêt.

Bernard Tillolloy, master of light in painting, came to Bouzy to complete several private workshops for adults, and inspired us all deeply, adults and children, in his research of transparencies and purity of colour.(voire concept : autumn studies from the children in  Bouzy La Forêt).

Presently engaged in various community projects in France and in the United Kingdom linking the music, painting, sculpture and architecture, the integration  of the arts in our lives as a spontaneous language with the concept of rhythm as a universal foundation, I have gathered a French and British Team to form the Charity Young Masters of Arts and I started creating a gallery on site in order to promote our young talents and invite the adult world to give them a positive feedback, in an international interaction.

I am particularly grateful to the Mayor, his team, the associations and educators in Bouzy La Forêt. In the heart of a small community remarkably open to many cultural ventures for all age groups, this research found a natural place, within a constant and enriching dialogue.  Most of all, it enhanced further  the universality of our youth’s potential.

Such developments had been judged as vital for the future of young people whose creativity is unleashed, when freed from virtual and formatting experiences.

This exchange stems indeed from the heart, a privileged place where one discovers one’s uniqueness, humanity and freedom of expression.

With My thanks to all : Béatrice Cofield

In memory of the Late Ifrafh Neaman

From the depth of my heart, I send to all those who engage themselves towards these young children and remarkable artists, my best wishes for the continuing and increasing success of their efforts.

Ifraf Neaman March 2000