La tribune Nyons 2024

The Manufacture des Arts, a welcoming workshop

The Maladrerie artisan district is home to a discreet green oasis that blends with the old stone of the Romanesque bridge and the freshness of the Eygues River. A few steps, and you’re in the wild garden of the Manufacture des Arts, with the strange sensation of entering a giant painting… And at the heart of the subject: art!

Behind the immense glass roof of the former factory, lies the workshop. The artist’s brushes extend the charm and the creative and energizing atmosphere, while large paintings, completed or in progress, adorn the white walls, offering all the possible journeys and projections, according to dreams and sensibilities, in this magical world of the abstract. The parrot, very real, has taken over the place and participates in the journey and the change of scenery, with the detachment of an expert. As you can see, the Manufacture des Arts is much more than an art gallery. While the works exhibited and showcased in all this natural light are indeed for sale, « the objective is elsewhere, » explains the artist. « It’s a caring art workshop, » says Christian Havet. « Caring is a technique with exercises whose objective is to develop creativity, intention, imagination, and sensitivity. I think people are pushed into passivity, into spectators, no longer actors at all. Scientists are demonstrating this more and more: when we think, we influence matter, so we might as well be creative… »

A Great Traveler

La Manufacture des Arts is a place that hosts art and artists, in a shared way, and there’s nothing abstract about it. The fresco visible at the Atrir is very tangible, « created with the patients, where each one contributed their own touch to bring joy and express themselves, or the fresco of the Anaïs association, of suns, energy, nature, where everyone represented themselves in the form of an animal in the forest, together, » explains the artist.

Our artist has done exhibitions around the world and films, there have been galleries in Lille, Paris, Berlin, Munich, and also New York… Before being noticed by the Welt der Wunder (World of Wonder) studios for television and science fiction films for twelve years in Munich.

After Covid, he returned to France where his « search for a large studio with light and on the banks of a river, » as he had hoped, led him to Nyons, in the Maladrerie district. Next news: the tour of the art workshops, in Nyons, on September 14. More information at christianhavet.fr

Christian Havet, an artist in the process of passing on knowledge

Christian Havet, a visual artist, for whom art is a necessity. « When I start drawing, I’m happy, » he explains. He wasn’t born into an artistic environment, but rather one close to miners in the north of France. Trained as an architect, he graduated in Tounai, Belgium, and then set up his own practice in Lille for several years. He has never stopped painting and drawing. « With ink, you can dilute it infinitely and make it very subtle, » he continues. It seems he’s always been an artist at heart. He confides: « When I was shy, I expressed myself better by drawing than by speaking. At school, my drawings were unsuccessful. So, on Wednesday afternoons, I attended the Beaux-Arts. My first exhibition took place in a garage. » Architecture is a profession that has fulfilled and nourished him, allowing him to live and share his true passion, in complete freedom.

Photo: Christian Havet and his Gaboon parrot.