Curated by artist & educator Naomi Draper, Gallery X: ED is working with art teachers & secondary schools from across the county to develop a really progressive approach to introducing students to contemporary visual art throughout the academic year. Through visits to the Roscommon Arts Centre gallery and specifically designed workshops, the programme will support the existing leaving cert art curriculum.

Participating schools in 2017/2018 are: Roscommon Community College, CBS Roscommon & Abbey Community College, Boyle.

Our lead workshop facilitators are:

Visual Artist Maree Hensey. Her practice encompasses drawing, sculpture and installation where material is an integral component. She use materials that are rich in associations and investigate ways to transform them, often projecting new identities and layers of meaning onto the work in doing so. Over the past number of years she has completed several Public Art Commissions, Site Specific Installations and Community Based Participatory Art projects. She works in many ways as an object maker, enquirer, researcher, collator, and mentor. She challenges and question decisions and work beyond conventional boundaries.

Andy Parsons is co-founder of Floating World Artists Books, he also curates and also writes for VAI. His work includes drawing painting sculpture and books.  Recent works have all centred on using a raft as a floating drawing board to make large scale drawings on the lakes and sea near Sligo. Recent group exhibitions include NCAD Gallery, F.E. McWilliam Gallery, The Model Sligo and the A.P.T Gallery in London. Andy is the recipient of a major award by the Pollock Krasner Foundation in the U.S. aimed at developing and sustaining his practice as an artist.

Anna Spearman is a visual artist currently working from a studio in the Model in Sligo. She received a BA in Fine Art from IT Sligo in 2007 and an MA in Fine Art: Contemporary Practice from the University of Falmouth in 2011. Recent projects include Sligo Global Kitchen – a collaborative project with people living in direct provision in Sligo and in partnership with the Model; and an ongoing collaboration with studio artists in KCAT as part of the Arts Council funded Engagement project. Anna is also currently working on Kids’ Own’s Virtually There project.