PUBLIC
This working methodology has been experimented by a number of European teachers attending peer-to-peer training courses.
Similarly, it has been employed for a variety of learners : pupils, students, adults.

KEY COMPETENCES
 Communication in the mother tongue
 Social competences and citizenship
 Humanist culture and expression of sensitivity

OBJECTIVES
 To enhance the vocabulary linked to the semantics of the garden and the textile.
 To enhance the range of techniques regarding the textile craft.
 To use the material as an expressive support and tool and discover the textile art works.
 To communicate, present your work, debate, support your own choices.

GARDENS EXPLORED
The ’Garden of Arts’ in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, an ephemeral garden implemented in the context of the project ’Jardin sans frontière’ by the young people of the local Mission and the students of the Lycée Horticole et agricole de la Ville.

The Carpet-Garden according to the visual artist Aline Rutily : a collective work in progress to share. ’In the installation, the carpet intertwines with the plants of the garden which seep into the textile works like in a shuttle loom weaving sharing the same corporal space. Aline Rutily

MATERIALS
 Cameras
 Notebooks, crayons
 Strips of fabric, even used, grouped by colour
 Cardboard supports or grids of the same size (30x30)

DEVELOPMENT
 1.Premise : to explore the garden using square frames and mirrors. Express your perceptions in words. Become aware of the lexical analogies between plants and textile material, for instance in the use of words qualifying leaves and flowers : silky, cotton-like, muffled, velvety, woolly…. Describe, photograph the details observed in the garden.
 2.To collect the square-shaped pictures. Each learner communicates his/her choices, which element in the garden has attracted his/her attention. This exercise aims at getting aware that each choice, image, text is interesting and adds value independently from any forms of hierarchy. This absence of hierarchy is evident also in the personal view of the garden : a 30x30cm square
 3.To transfer the photo on a ’square of fabric’
To cut a cardboard support of 30x30 cm. It can also be used a thin grid o realized with thick strips of fabric crocheted together
 4.To gather strips of fabric having the colours of the photo

 5.To experiment different techniques : lace, knots, crochet, cuttings, pleats, gathers, use of painting. The experimentation is based on the effects produced by the use of different textures and fabrics.
 6. To put together all the pieces of fabric reproducing the various views on the garden, realize a collective carpet

In Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the class of pupils of the preparatory course (6-7 years old) of Sylvie Tournier, Headmistress of the Primary school Giraud Teulon, has taken advantage of the presence of the choreographer Sylvie Daussin and of the percussionist musicians Augustin Thibault, Theo Bouvron, Mateo Tretout.
These young pupils have utilized their own and others’ squares to create various ’body sentences’ combining body expression with music and coloured stuff portraying the different points of view on the garden.

The performance of the children has offered the viewers a beautiful visual metaphor : everyone plants their own square in the infinite ’Jardin sans frontière’ we are weaving all together during our meetings and which expands with them.

See the performance on the video produced by Sylvie Tournier, Headmistress of the Primary school Giraud Teulon,.

EXTENSION
To make European schools participate in this ’Flying Carpet without Borders’ experience.
The Carpet-Garden was first installed in Romania and was made of 53 pieces. See the first installation of the transcultural plant Carpet-Garden at the Centre George Apostu, Bakau
This work in progress , like a Flying Carpet, has then travelled to Cahors et Versailles at the Potager du Roi in France, to Italy in San Quirico d’Orcia, iParma and Bologna. Afterwards, it has travelled to Faro in Portugal and Brussels, Belgium, in front of the Town Hall.
Its latest journey goes back to the month of June 2019 to the Jardin des Arts, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Made now of hundreds of pieces, the Flying Carpet will be the object of a performance in the Jardin des Arts on the occasion of the Mois des Rendez-vous aux Jardins, in June 2019.

EVALUATION
It takes into account the ability to :
Master the mother tongue orally and in writing
 communicate, to uphold one’s own choices as regards the views of the garden
 get motivated to writing, minding spelling
 enrich the vocabulary and fix it

Develop awareness, culture and expression
 expand the repertoire of the techniques connected with the use of fabric
 re-use it, expand the cultural knowledges about art works using textile

Develop social and civic competences
 communicate one’s project
 uphold reasons and choices, debate, listen to other’s views
 get motivated about maintaining a correspondence

AUTHOR
Aline Rutily
Association Paysage et Patrimoine sans Frontière . Saint-Germain-en-Laye France

TRANSLATER
Mary Gino
Association Acquamarina, Trieste, Italie