OBJECTIVES

 To approach the yard in its relation to nature.
 To invest space in order to integrate into it floor-levelled and hanging creations or sculptures on treillis.

SKILLS

To perceive, express, react, interact (with the other pupils, with artists’ works).

MATERIALS :

Plant elements, stones, hemp, sand, treillis, papers, cloth, wire, glue, Sellotape, Plexiglas, wire cutters and a scroll saw with metal web.

REFERENCES

Bob Verschueren, Installations

PROCEDURES

Prerequisites :

 Expression of the children’s individual representations related to the garden in the form of drawings, words, sentences
 Appearance of some aspects from the expression of representations : tensions between the public and the private aspects, the wild and the designed aspects, between functional and leisure aspects
 Observation of the yard : relation between a yard and a public garden, wild nature or designed yard
 Exploration of the park through the senses ; natural elements’ collecting for the productions to come
 Meeting with artists’ works - Bob Verschueren, Installations

Activities :

Three classes collaborate to create the discovery path of the schoolyard as a public garden area : each one elaborates a project.

Project 1 : Working on the ground level

It consists in :

 on the one hand, making a composition in the space delimited by the cavity obtained by taking off some of the concrete slabs covering the whole schoolyard surface. Then, the composition is covered with a Plexiglas sheet
 on the other hand, organizing a path for the visitors, enabling them to discover the whole of the works produced

Project 2 : hanging

The production consists in weaving natural elements (hemp, bindweed, boughs, grass…) onto metallic treillis frames which will then be hung on the wire meshes surrounding the schoolyard.

Project 3 : sculptures

The 3-D productions are linked to nature thanks to their theme and/or the use of materials.

TRANSPOSITION

A similar work can be considered with younger pupils provided the material and the necessary tools are adapted to them.

ASSESSMENT

 To become aware of man’s role onto the environment
 To approach the link between nature and culture, what is wild and what is artificial, what is aesthetic and what is functional
 To learn how to argue : present a “guided tour" of the schoolyard to parents and other pupils.

Marc Labeeu, étudiant en sciences de l’éducation, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique