This document presents a project exploring abstract art using the works of Irish painter Sean Scully. The project involves 7 sessions focusing on different elements of Scully's paintings like lines and shapes, colors, patterns, balance, space, and numbers. Each session provides vocabulary and hands-on activities for 4-5 year old children. The goal is to introduce children to abstract art concepts through Scully's inspiration from dry stone walls and in a way that integrates language learning, art, music, and physical development.

1. DUBLIN 2015
Soqui Rojo (Menorca) Monica Briseghella (Italy) and Mariavittoria Vecchi (Italy)

2. A BRIEF PRESENTATION
Why we chose Sean Scully? We chose Scully because we liked
his temporary exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland and
we thought that his abstract art might be a good point to start
exploring with children different concepts in different ways:
shapes, colours, patterns, balance, number and measures.
Scully art, as you now, was inspired by the dry stone walls of
the Aran Islands. The presence of these kind of walls, in
Menorca as in Italy too, motivated us to choose the work of
this artist to introduce an intercultural project.
Who is Scully? Starting from the presentation of the artist,
the trail is designed to develop in seven different sessions.
Each one of them is connected with an aspect of his
paintings.

3. The project is interdisciplinary. The seven session altogether
offer children activities concerning all areas of child
development: language area, graphic pictorial area, motory and
sound, music and dance activities, experiences in order to count
and measure.
The project will give children the chance to learn the new
language as they can connect the new vocabulary with their
senses, visually, aurally and physically.
We are teaching in a pre-primary school, then we thought of
proposals for 4/5 year old children.
But all sessions are like large containers: each of them contains
proposals which can be extended, or made more complex,
depending on the age of the children and the school level. You
can expand the experiences, the information on the work of
Scully, or the vocabulary too.
We’ll show you only just a few examples.

4. 2. LINES AND
SHAPES
EXPLORING WALLS
TROUGHT SEAN SCULLY
7. NUMBER
and
MEASURES
1. ABSTRACT
ART
4. PATTERNS
6. BALANCE
5. CONCEPT
OF SPACE
3 . COLORS

5. RESOURCES
TO PRESENT THE CONTENT OF THE PROJECT
• A power-point
• Information about the work from Sean Scully
• Photos
• Videos
• Flash cards with the vocabulary
• The Irish song: “What should we do with the
drunken sailor”

6. TO WORK WITH THE CHILDREN:
A paper with the shape of the portrait of Sean Scully
Papers different measures
Brushes
Temperas
Pencils
Black markers
Scissors
Glue
Clay
Different kind of materials to cut shapes,
Boxes,
A variety of materials (recycled material, plastic bottles,
boxes…) stones, potatoes, …
Construction sets
Colored beads
Body games

7. EXPLORING WALLS TROUGHT
SEANSCULLY

9. SEAN SCULLY IS A PAINTER
WHO WAS BORN IN IRELAND
IN 1945.
HE HAS BEEN 70 YEARS OLD IN
LAST SUMMER IN JUNE.

11. HE TAKES ISPIRATION
FROM THE WORLD
ARAUND HIM. HIS WORK
IS INSPIRED BY DRY
STONE WALLS OF THE
ARAN ISLANDS

16. SIMILAR KIND OF WALLS WE HAVE
IN SPAIN AND ITALY .
FOR EXEMPLE IN MENORCA, IN
THE BALEARIC ISLANDS AND IN
SARDINIA ISLAND.

17. MENORCA, BALEARIC ISLANDS, SPAIN

19. SARDINIA ISLAND, ITALY

20. SASSUOLO, ITALY

21. ABSTRACT ART

22. HE STARTED OUT
PAINTING PEOPLE BUT
DECIDED HE LIKED
SHAPES , LINES, COLOURS
AND PATTERNS.

24. THE IDEAS FOR HIS
PAINTINGS COME FROM
COLOURS AND PATTERNS
AND SHAPES .

31. HE ALMOST ALWAYS USES
BLOCKS OR STRIPS.

35. THIS KIND OF ART IS
KNOWN AS ABSTRACT ART.

36. VOCABULARY
ABSTRAT ART
PAINTER
STONE
WALL
DRY STONE WALLS

37. ACTIVITY
TO PAINT THE PORTRAIT OF
SEAN SCULLY AS YOU CAN SEE
IN HIS WORKS OF ABSTRACT
ART

38. LINES AND SHAPES

39. HORIZONTAL

40. VERTICAL

41. STRAIGHT LINE

42. CURVED LINES

43. POINT
CIRCLE

44. TRIANGLE

45. SQUARE

47. OVAL

48. IRREGULAR STONE

49. REGULAR
IRREGULAR
SHAPES

50. VOCABULARY
POINT
LINE: VERTICAL / HORIZONTAL
STRAIGHT LINE / CURVED LINE
SHAPES: CIRCLE, OVAL, SQUARE,
RECTANGLE, TRIANGLE,
REGULAR / IRREGULAR

51. ACTIVITIES
• COLLAGE WITH SHAPES MADE OF
DIFFERENT TYPES, TEXTURES AND
MATERIALS

52. • TO DESIGN A WALL LIKE SCULLY
WITH DIFFERENT LINES AND
SHAPES

53. COLORS
SEAN SCULLY STARTED PAINTING
AND DRAWING WHEN HE WAS
A LITLLE BOY. LATER HE WENT
TO SCHOOL TO TRAIN AS AN
ARTIST.

54. PEOPLE LIKE HIS COLORFULL PAINTING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tssYKyfsB
_Q

55. WITH THEIR GRIDS OF STRIPES
AND SQUARES, THE PAINTINGS OF
SEAN SCULLY RESEMBLE PLAYING
BOARDS FOR GAMES NOT YET
INVENTED, OR THE FLAGS OF
IMAGINARY COUNTRIES.

56. Press here…

57. VOCABULARY:
COLORS
RED
ORANGE
YELLOW
GREEN
PURPLE
PINK
GREY
BLACK
WHITE
BROWN
BLUE

58. ACTIVITIES
• TO PAINT STRIPES WITH
COLORS LIKE SEAN SCULLY
• TO FOUND OUT THE
DIFFERENT TONES OF GREY
WATCHING DRY STONE
WALLS

59. PATTERNS
A PATTERN IS A DISCERNIBLE
REGULARITY IN THE WORLD
OR IN A MENMADE DESIGN

60. DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF IRISH
CULTUR

61. THE ELEMENT OF A PATTERN
REPEET IN A PREDICTABLE
MANNER
(Floor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral)

62. ANY OF THE FIVE SENSES MAY
DIRECTLY OBSERVE PATTERNS

63. VOCABULARY
TO MAKE SERIES
TO COMPOSE
TO REPIT
TO CONSTRUCT
TO DANCE
TO WRITE
TO THREAD

64. ACTIVITIES
• TO CREATE A NECKLACE: THREAD 4
ELEMENTS (COLOURED BEAD) OF
DIFFERENT SHAPE AND COLOR AND
THEN REPEAT THEM A ROLL OF
• TO PAINT A WALL WITH FINGER
PRINTS WATCHING THA PATTERNS
• TO PLAY MAKING RHYTHMS
MAPPING A TYPE OF SOUND AN
ELEMENT OF VIEW

65. • IN ALL THE DANCE WE CAN
DISCOVER SOUND AND
MOTORY PATTERNS.
LET DANCE WITH IRISH MUSIC !
DANCING

66. CONCEPT OF SPACE
OUT
NEAR
UNDER
DOWN
UP

67. ON
UNDER

68. IN
OUT

69. UP
DOWN

70. WAY
NEAR

71. FRONT
BEHIND

72. VOCABULARY
UP, DOWN, IN, ON, OUT, OVER,
UNDER, NEXT TO, CORNER, BESIDE,
BETWEEN, NEAR, WAY
Video

73. ACTIVITY
BODY AND MOTORY GAMES
TO BUILD A SCULPTURE WITH
BOXES AS SEAN SCULLY

74. BALANCE

75. … WITH BODY…
Video
Video

76. AND WITH OBJECTS OF DIFFERENT
SIZE , SHAPE AND WEIGHT

77. VOCABULARY:
BODY, HANDS , FEET , HEAD ,
LEGS , BACK, BELLY.
BALANCE, LIGHT / HEAVY, BIG/
SMALL, …

78. ACTIVITIES:
• MOMENTS OF FREE EXPLORATION
FOR TO KNOW MATERIALS AND
AND THEIR FEATURES
• BALANCE GAMES WITH
DIFFERENT MATERIALS
• BODY GAMES

79. NUMBERS
AND
MEASURES

80. ONE

81. TWO

82. THREE

83. PRESS THE
SHAPES TO SEE MORE VIDEOS

84. …AND SO FOR ALL OTHER
NUMBERS UP TO 10
PRESS HERE…

85. VOCABULARY:
NUMBER, ONE, TWO,
THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX,
SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN.
MEASURE , LONG , WIDE ,
HIGH, LOW , ...

86. ACTIVITIES:
COMBINE NUMBER AND QUANTITY
THROUGH GAMES AND MOMENTS
OF ROUTINES
WE ASSOCIATE A COLOR TO EACH
NUMBER AND THE KIDS HAVE TO
PAINT SO MANY TRACES OF THAT
COLOR AS THE NUMBER INDICATED

87. TO COMPARE THE SIZE OF
OBJECTS.
TO DO SIMPLE MEASUREMENTS
USING HANDS , FEET , OBJECTS ,
…