Saothar Ealaíon

Saothar Ealaíon is an Arts Group which was set up to encourage and promote the visual arts through education in the County Donegal Gaeltacht.

Saothar Ealaíon travel to communities to conduct environmental sculpture workshops, community arts activities and art projects in schools.

The Gaeltacht denotes any region in Ireland where the Irish language (Gaeilge) is spoken. The core group of practising artists live and work between Errigal mountain and the sea on the North West coast of county Donegal.

The aims of Saothar Ealaíon are:

• To act as facilitators, strengthening the concept and value of idea development and to encourage initiative
• To work on and achieve visually impressive pieces of work that can be seen and admired by the students and others long after the workshop ends
• That the work should be enjoyable
• To create situations in which the students work together, in groups

Quick Links:

Saothar Ealaion

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Ealaion Web

Primary Schools Programmes

In 1999 Saothar Ealaion was invited to instigate a programme of workshops in Primary Schools in the Donegal Gaeltacht. 21 schools took part in the project from March 1999 to February 2000.
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Secondary Schools Programmes

In 1998 Saothair Ealaíon undertook a pilot project on behalf Páirtíocht Ghaeltacht Thír Chonaill / MFG, Údarás na Gaeltachta and Donegal County Council.

This was one of several schemes to highlight and respond to Youth at Risk, working with students who might be at risk of terminating their education early. In art, there is no right and wrong and hence little risk of failure. Because, at this level, it relies on intuition more than learned skills, art workshops can be of benefit to students irrespective of academic aptitude.
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Ealaion Web

Saothar Ealaion is interested in encouraging and promoting art in education and in 2003 devised a dynamic project which to link art to the computer. Having then conducted art workshops with children for nearly ten years in Gaeltacht schools which are often located in isolated rural areas, this project aimed to connect the participating schools through the internet.

Many primary schools have computers in the classroom but rarely get the opportunity to use them to their full potential. This project allowed children to communicate through art via the world wide web and provided both children and teachers with a foundation in art, design, and basic multi-media skills. It also helped the children to develop skills in interpretation, organisation, and communication.
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