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Emmanuelle Tenailleau believes that painting has the power to give meaning and feeling to shapes and colors. It offers the experience of visually feeling what cannot be said with words. Painting can express wonder, worry, happiness, loneliness… It takes us to what is buried in each of us.

She describes her style as figurative, without being classic, because the world as she perceives it, reveals forms that inspire her: the shadow of a tree trunk, the cut of a leaf, the posture of a kneeling man, a child running, a woman walking, the plumage of a bird. For the past two years, her painting has been inspired by fairy tales. She creates figures of children grappling with the world that they are discovering with courage and questioning. Emmanuelle Tenailleau feels that life oscillates between the imaginary and reality which confront each other and/or connect. The figure of the wolf, for example, embodies fear, without us knowing whether this fear is real or imagined.

The artists she met during her childhood, through her grandfather Jean Commère, and her career in an art gallery and in visual art journalism played a major role in her artistic education. She also developed her creativity thanks to her visits to many museums. She pursued a university course at Paris Sorbonne (History, Art History and Visual Arts) before becoming an expert in modern and contemporary painting. She is a member of the Chambre nationale des experts spécialisés (CNES) since 2006 and of the Maison des Artistes.

Feel like you need some air! Believe us, we hear you! Get on those hiking boots and take some time to revel in the great outdoors! The Walk and Talk committee organises an easy walk once a month – (approximately 10 km, 3 hours in the afternoon) in order to discover or re-discover the beautiful hiking paths of the Maine-et-Loire. Come along with good walking shoes, protection against rain, cold or heat according to the season… a bottle of water and a little “en-cas” to keep you going! Maximum group is 20 so be sure to sign up!

Open to library members only. Sign up by sending your name, email address and phone number (preferably cell phone) to the group leader by clicking here. You will be sent full details for the upcoming walk.

The library is an authorised test center for the TOEIC Listening and Reading Test (the Test of English for International Communication). For more information please visit our TOEIC page or to sign up go to the official ETS website.

Do you love French food and restaurants? Would you like to speak English more, but in a relaxed environment? Join the Luncheon Club! Enjoy a meal and great conversation in English once a month at a local restaurant. This activity is open to library members. Spaces are limited. For more information or to sign up, please contact the group coordinator here.

The Saturday Reading Group is for anyone who loves to read, socialize in English, and meet new people.

The October read for the group is The Children of Men by P. D. James. Told with P. D. James’s trademark suspense, insightful characterization, and riveting storytelling, The Children of Men is a story of a world with no children and no future. The human race has become infertile, and the last generation to be born is now adult. Civilization itself is crumbling as suicide and despair become commonplace. Oxford historian Theodore Faron, apathetic toward a future without a future, spends most of his time reminiscing. Then he is approached by Julian, a bright, attractive woman who wants him to help get her an audience with his cousin, the powerful Warden of England. She and her band of unlikely revolutionaries may just awaken his desire to live . . . and they may also hold the key to survival for the human race.

Meetings are once a month on Saturday afternoons starting at 3 pm. Open to all library members. To sign up please contact the group coordinator at bookgroup@ellia.org.

This is our big Coffee House kick-off date of the fall season of 2021! Join the library community for a special moment to talk about anything and everything (in English of course!) over a cup of coffee or tea. Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop by, no need to reserve!

The garden club invites you to discover the beautiful gardens in the area!

The October visit will be in the lovely gardens of the Château de Gastines in Fougeré, a garden that has been classed as “jardin remarquable”. The visit will start at 3:00 pm. The entrance fee to this private garden is €6.

This activity is open to library members and offers visits once a month to a garden between April and October. For more information and/or to sign up for this visit, please send an email to Sylvie Leys  at elliagardenclub@gmail.com.

Hee haw! Come to the library and kick up some dust! Learn how to line dance and have a great evening of wild western fun! Remember to dress for the occasion! Simple steps and ambiance Texan in the company of “Madison Country Briollay”…free and open to the public. No reservation necessary, first come, first serve.

Austin too far to visit? True, not easy to travel these days. But we have a solution…how about a getting a tour of the beautiful new building of the Austin Public Library? The building, opened in 2017, was listed as one of Time magazine’s “world’s greatest places” in 2018. Librarian Melissa Wise will be giving us a LIVE Zoom tour of library…next best thing to being there!