Andy Parsons

The Dock is delighted to be working with artist Andy Parsons as our new Youth Arts Residency 2023. He will be working closely with our youth arts group The Collective Producers and visual arts programme, giving young people a platform within the arts for decision-making, creativity, and to develop their creative voice.

As part of his residency at The Dock he is aiming to explore how music, fashion, technology and popular culture from the past co-exist with and nourish culture made today... 'The cyclical and overlapping nature of culture, music and fashion create a really interesting space where young people can explore identity, and experiment in different media and processes.'

Andy Parsons's practice combines working in community contexts with making drawing, sculpture and painting. His past 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 Inpatients, and a community boatbuilding project on Sligo Docks.

Recent projects include ‘Conversations in Portrait,’ a virtual portrait project with older people across Ireland, and a two-year residency at Sligo University Hospital for The Model Home of The Niland Collection, which culminated in a major solo exhibition at The Model in Autumn 2021, entitled, ‘Patience.’ Parsons has received several significant awards, including the Pollock Krasner Foundation Award, and has exhibited internationally.

Andy Parsons is a lifelong devotee of Northern Soul, and his current work has taken its music and dancing as a starting point. Northern Soul is music from U.S. labels such as Chess, Ric-tic, Stax, and Okeh from the 60s that didn’t enjoy commercial success at the time but became popular with DJs and dancers in the 1970s and 80s - and a precursor to dance culture and the rave scene.

If you wish to sign up and want to know more about The Collective Producers, email Laura Mahon, Visual Arts & Education Manager: lmahon@leitrimcoco.ie