Jeanne Romano-Cotelli at the ETR Balistic Graphique workshop - 2023

Jeanne Romano-Cotelli, winner of the 2023 Savoir-faire en transmission awards, works alongside Marilda Simonidhi in the ETR Balistique engraving workshop.

After studying engraving at the Estienne school and several internships in intaglio workshops, including René Tazé's in 2021, and taking part in exhibitions to promote her work, Jeanne is doing a civic service in 2021 and 2022 at the ETR Balistic engraving workshop.

This experience inspired her to deepen her knowledge of intaglio engraving by developing her technique and graphic repertoire, as well as enriching her teaching skills, to pass on to children and adults alike, and thus perpetuate this ancient engraving technique.

The ETR Balistic printmaking studio, located in Arcueil, is a workshop that brings together Parisian and Ile-de-France artists, working on their own projects, and children from Arcueil schools, for annual educational and artistic projects aimed at social integration. The workshop also offers AFDAS training courses, opening the door to printmaking in other professional and artistic fields. Demonstrations are organized during exhibitions at the workshop, which also serves as a museum gallery, exhibiting a large collection of 19th-century presses and machines, demonstrating a technical know-how that must endure.

At the start of her internship, Jeanne was involved in finalizing a project with Arcueil children to publish three color books enhanced with watercolors, using different techniques, based on the town's heritage. The project led to an exhibition. "We engraved and printed their plates for them, culminating in a finished book".

Jeanne also takes advantage of her internship to develop personal projects, such as the design of an artist's book recounting her first experience of visiting the underground passages of Paris, which had been the subject of her diploma project.

For the remainder of her internship, Jeanne will be taking part in workshops for local elementary school children and training courses in fields such as rotogravure, and will be working on the "manière noire" technique.

Jeanne appreciates the full-time immersion in the workshop's activities, a guarantee and enrichment for furthering her professional project. "You have to be there every day, you see the difference with those who are there half a day a week, you don't get ahead" - Marilda Simonidhir

At the end of her training course, Jeanne would like to become an intaglio engraver, either by setting up her own workshop or taking over an existing one.