Immerse yourself in art with Stephanie
A special visit
National Galleries of the Grand Palais in Paris. The public is in a hurry to admire works from Klimt, Kokoschka or Schiele. A young and rather slender blonde woman approaches a group: she will be their guide the time of the visit. In an energetic voice and with multiple gestures, she quickly takes the measure of the group. She does not describe the exhibition, she lives it, wants to make it live to her audience. It's like (almost) in the theater. Surprised at the beginning by this guide lecturer little academic, his public quickly drinks his words and obeys his orders ("there are too many people, we will follow the exhibition upside down, follow me") without complaining. At the end of the visit, visitors will discover the desire to know more about Klimt or the cultural excitement of Vienna around 1900. Objective achieved for Stéphanie Bernardin...
A vocation born at the boarding school
When she joined the Louvre School at the age of 18, Stéphanie Bernardin has never set foot in Paris, let alone in a museum. This Vosgienne remembers the trauma of the entrance examination in this prestigious institution: "I felt terribly peasant, I had grown in a place where there was nothing to 30 kilometers around." His only certainty at that time: she is particularly comfortable speaking, she loves to tell stories. "I hated school, I was bored until I was 18. In geo-history, I pretended to be asleep, but in fact, at the end of the class, I had learned everything, and in the evening, during my four years I rehearsed for my classmates, told them stories. "With a wink, she confesses that it was a very selfish way for her to learn her lessons ...
The discovery of Art
Stephanie pays tribute to her philosophy teacher in high school: "It was he who saved me One day, on one of my bulletins he wrote:" In the kingdom of the blind, the queen is one-eyed. "With my sister Rachel, they pushed me to prepare for the entrance exam at the Louvre School. "She smashed the annals of the test, filled up with general knowledge, and passed the test. The school is made for her: "you are not supposed to know anything about art when you come in. The aim of the teaching is to get you in shape in four years, starting with the Paleolithic, going all the way 'In the twentieth century, you have to learn everything by heart.' She does not understand anything about her first class: unable to take notes, she comes out in tears, depressed. Fortunately, in her promo she meets Anne, "a great girl". The duo goes every day to the Louvre and learns his lessons in front of works. "I thank this system of training open to all and that today allows me to give the impression of having bathed in the history of art since childhood."
The first months in Paris
When she arrived in the capital in 1996, it was the time of the lean cows: "The first year, we did not eat anything, we did not go to the cinema." It must succeed at all costs, it did not not the choice, thanking her parents who have always been there for her: "They were ready to sacrifice themselves, it was my studies first and foremost." Leaving the Vosges, Stéphanie is confronted with very different social backgrounds from her own. : "I had the impression of being a disabled person, I met people who had books at home, who frequented museums." Another meeting will then count for her, with a friend who will be a time his friend: "His family had this cultural background that I missed, he encouraged me, was very proud of me, it's thanks to him that I work for Clio today."
* Clio, an agency specializing in cultural travel, brings together a speaker with a small group of travelers to discover unusual itineraries. To be a guide at Clio, Stephanie went through a difficult selection. Specialized in German culture after a three-month internship in a Dresden museum, she regularly accompanies groups on a cruise from Berlin to Prague.
//www.clio.fr
Become a guide
When asked what is the first ? out who made it vibrate, Stéphanie Bernardin continues to surprise with his response: "My first emotion came from a wonderful teacher and his class on neo-classicism". She falls in love with the? out of David, is also passionate about the Renaissance, "the world that opens". On the occasion of passing an oral examination, this same teacher is the first to tell him that she has a personal approach to the? out to comment. Then a new meeting will decide her future job: "I visited an exhibition with a wonderful, beautiful speaker, who presented without notes and spoke with a lot of passion: it was the one I wanted to become."
Synergy with the public
Stéphanie is first and foremost fascinated by the audience, the pairs of eyes facing her: "I want them to understand that all there is on the wall are colors and lines, that they succeed in having Emotions forgetting everything else. "In her presentations, she plays a lot on sincerity and rhythm:" I dive into? out when people do not expect it, to surprise them. "The speaker never prepares text, does not rely on any paper to animate his interventions:" I improvise, I like to feel the synergy with the visitors, it's as if they send me waves. "A big laugh, and she lets go:" It's my authoritarian side that stands out: in a way I hold them. "
Art, another world
In a museum, Stéphanie Bernardin feels good: "Facing the? out, the world can crumble, I'm fine. "She who defines herself as a" disabled everyday "(she is able to buy three times his Orange card for the same month) is like a fish in the water in the middle of tables, able to manage a too large group or to do with a colleague too close to her: "In my job, I am swollen, I am afraid of nothing. "After a difficult start (" When I was 600 "a month, I was rich!"), Stephanie decided to settle in an independent company, which she had been training for two years now. a lecture on Caravaggio, Italian painter) and ruins himself in books and other catalogs of exhibitions: "I am a traveling library. I remember the day I bought the catalog of the expo that I had to comment 65?, While I was paid 60? "She's having fun." My challenge right now is to prepare a conference and spend as little as possible. But I'm still able to host conferences all over the Ile de France, which only last an hour and a half but take me 2 hours to go ... Like what, the reality principle is not still not anchored in the way of managing my agenda! "
