Who is Yann Fabès, director of Atelier de Sèvres since March 2019?
On Monday 4th March, Yann Fabès became director of Atelier de Sèvres. A recognised artist, Yann Fabès is a professional experienced in teaching and directing schools, holding the role of director at École supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Étienne from 2011 to 2016 and then ENSCI - Les Ateliers from 2016.
Joining Atelier de Sèvres – the heart’s desire
"For me, the Foundation Course is an extremely important, pivotal moment: we welcome people and take them somewhere." In his welcoming address to teachers at Atelier de Sèvres on Thursday 7th March, Yann Fabès presented his career as an artist, teacher and director. He explained his interest in returning to his first love, art, after a break at a major design and innovation company.
The new director also spoke of his fascination for the first moments, the first chances, in the life of an artist in the making: "When I was a teacher, I always wanted to participate in student recruitment because it's a very moving and important moment in the lives of the candidates."
Making Atelier de Sèvres a place for education in artistic excellence
For Yann Fabès, while Atelier de Sèvres is "probably the best school in France to prepare candidates for entrance to art schools," it also aims to become an exceptional place of higher education.
The international perspective, with the strengthening of preparation for entry to foreign schools, the welcoming of international students and the development of training programmes abroad are potential areas of reflection for the establishment.
Finally, because of its reputation and the quality of its training, Atelier de Sèvres must "participate in the overall reflection on questions of artistic education, define its social role, the link it has with other fields of knowledge and identify its specificities as a French school in the diversity of an international setting."
Artist, teacher, director
Yann Fabès has developed his activity as a recognised visual artist since 1988 after obtaining a National Postgraduate Degree in Fine Arts. Interested in the means of representation through image, Yann Fabès’ work is at the boundary between photography and screen printing. It is presented in many galleries, art centres and museums in France and abroad.
In addition to his artistic activities, Yann Fabès also has a successful track record in cultural project coordination—being in charge of projects at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Saint-Etienne from 1989 to 1999—and in teaching. He was a visiting professor at the École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Étienne before becoming the coordinator of the art option from 2003 to 2006 and then the teaching coordinator from 2006. He was also professor of Art History at Jean Monnet University from 1994 to 2003.
Enriched by these experiences, Yann Fabès took the reins as director in 2007 when he was promoted to director of studies at the École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Étienne, before going on to become director there in 2011. With his expertise established, he was appointed director of ENSCI - Les Ateliers in 2016 by the ministers of culture and industry.
