At 90, Josette still teaches painting in this resort on the Breton coast

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“I would have liked that, to be drawing teacher. » But at the time, we preferred to see her embrace a more remunerative career.

Josette, despite her appetite and an obvious talent for the pencil, becomes a dentist. “Parents always want their children to do better than them! »

The desire to do well

At 90 years old, Josette Bonneté, who has lived in Pléneuf-Val-André for a long time, does not complain about her professional career: she has derived a lot of pleasure from “doing my job well. I was very demanding of the orthodontists who made the appliances. I could even be, I admit, a little exasperating…”

Attention to detail, already.

In addition, her dental career brought encounters and opportunities, when after raising her four children, she returned to paint.

And once in retirement, Josette made up for lost time and fulfilled her desire to pass on her knowledge of art and how to handle brushes.

Two workshops per week

At over 90 years old, she is still the one who leads the Tuesday and Friday workshops of the association of Free-range brushes.

Josette Bonneté created this association in 2010. Today, she leads the 45 local artists who practice, twice a week, in the small rooms of Guémadeuc.

“Tuesday is a more educational course, where we try to progress. On Friday, we bring the corrections to the canvases. »

Sharing my knowledge and technique is my favorite thing to do.

Artistic talent in the genes

Because she has acquired knowledge and technique all these years! Small, drawing was innate for her.

For Josette, “it was in the family genes: there was a lot of ease with manual work”. His parents had themselves learned drawing at the Saint-Brieuc normal school. Her grandfather carved “on everything he found…” Her aunt excelled in lace…

I didn’t understand why people couldn’t draw!

She found drawings that she made when she was little. “I still have this banana that I made… When I see it today… It was good! I had a sense of proportion, especially of colors…”

Cleaning or painting

During her years as a student, then as a mother, drawing took a back seat.

“Then my children grew up, I gave them some household chores to free up time and paint again. »

Her husband, who went to architecture school, taught her perspectives. “I painted in a small bedroom upstairs in the house. »

Weekly getaways to Paris

Josette, who lived in Paris for a while, returned there with pleasure, discover exhibitions.

I went there for the day: I left by the 6 a.m. train, I arrived at the Grand Palais at 10:30 a.m. and I returned in the evening, often on Monday. I came back from there with lots of books, exhibition catalogs.

Supports to learn, always more, about technique andart history.

Hundreds of paintings

And she paints, she paints. “At this moment, it is my husband who was my teacher. He was the one who told me to stop. I always wanted to retouch! »

Josette remembers the winter of 79-80.

It had snowed in Val-André. I painted the snow-covered dike, the white landscapes around my home, the woods around La Crinière too, my son was a bouncer there at the time.

Canvases which today lie dormant in his personal workshop, in the basement, or adorn the colorful and warm interior of his house, which is located opposite the Guémadeuc room.

Just the road to cross to get to his classes. “It was the mayor, Jean-Yves Lebas, who opened these rooms to us for our workshops,” remembers the artist.

His “masters”

Josette Bonneté has earned her stripes over the years. After the death of her husband, she did summer internships in Trégastel, they form have No and with other artists.

Hubert Coatleven, one of her patients at the time, guided her in the art of watercolor. She won a silver medal at the Montgermont salon for one of her works.

With Jean-Claude Lucas, another recognized local artist, drawing teacher at Saint-Charles in Saint-Brieuc, she explores other techniques. “He studied fine arts for 7 years and had a lot of background, he is one of my masters. »

Together they work tall artistic movements after impressionism.

Josette then turns to the abstractcollage.

Today, I want to do more modern.

She is particularly influenced by the techniques of Viktoria Prischedko, an artist she admires and with whom she had the chance to train for 3 days.

Passionate about current affairs

But the artist paints a little less. “Preparing my lessons takes me a lot of time…”

Just like the news which she is passionate about, “I follow everything, a lot on LCI, especially politics and I am updating myself to follow the challenges that await the government”.

His pairing with Mado

She paints especially during the holidays, talking a lot with her partner, Mado, who supports her during the workshops. “It’s a joy to compare our knowledge and our emotions.”

She adds: “I also work a lot, when there is the Saint-Brieuc Biennale. »

And when it is necessary to prepare the association’s exhibition, as was the case at the beginning of autumn. Always taking care of his brushes in freedom…

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