Aspiring is an exhibition which explores different ways of communicating through the language of art by the youth arts group at The Dock, The Collective Producers, aged between 14 and 19 years. Since last year, our group has been working with artist Andy Parsons.
We have been working on a number of processes like photography, collage, printmaking, painting and sculpture. We began by looking at photography using a camera obscura and experimenting with cyanotypes. We continued with the printmaking technique of lithography and printed on a range of different surfaces such as canvas, paper and wood. As well as combining different approaches, such as sewing and stitching on top of painted and printed canvases.
The use of cyanotypes is a reference to the works of the early twentieth-century artist, László Moholy-Nagy, whose work explored objects from the machine age by exposing their silhouettes to photographic paper - processes that are reflective of STEAM principals.
The works we have made draw together our different perspectives as we began with the same materials but have produced our own individual artworks. Our artworks are largely abstract so can be interpreted differently.
Aspiring is supported by the Creative Ireland Open Call Programme through Leitrim County Council. The project was also supported by STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) in Youth Work at NYCI, which is building the capacity of the youth work sector to use STEAM to improve lives of young people.
Andy Parsons
In his practice, artist Andy Parsons combines working in community contexts, with mark-making drawing, sculpture and painting. Projects have focused on people and places, and on activities where people work together and help each other. Parsons has worked in many different community settings, including youth projects, community care settings for older people, mental health settings, and a community boatbuilding project on the Sligo docks. Andy has worked with diverse groups, using photography, lithography, and a range of drawing and painting techniques. He encourages an open-ended, process-based approach to art making.
Parsons recently completed a major residency at Sligo University Hospital for The Model Home of The Niland Collection in Sligo, which culminated in a major solo exhibition titled Patience, and a group exhibition at Durden and Ray in Los Angeles. In Autumn 2023, Parsons exhibited a series of giant canvases celebrating dance and Northern Soul, at The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon. Parsons has received several significant awards including the Pollock Krasner Foundation Award, and has exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions including the Standpoint Gallery in London, APT Gallery in London, and S.I.B. Gallery in Tokyo.
Youth Arts Group
Would you be interested in joining our Youth Arts Group? We are looking for new members! Please send an email, telling us why you would like to join to Laura Mahon, Visual Arts & Education Manager at The Dock, at lmahon@leitrimcoco.ie. Please send your submission by Friday 27 September.
