JO PARSONS is a single mum of a feisty seven year old daughter. She currently lives in the South East of NSW where she has designed and is currently building a family home for herself and her child. Jo has spent 23 years of service as a teacher and now lives a quiet life dedicated to making her surroundings and others, BEAUTIFUL. Along side building her own home, Jo has been helping her dear friend renovate her country home and loves to build with timber, create beautiful garden spaces and has returned to her art making on canvas.
Inspired by her senior art teacher, Jo developed a passion for art making at school which saw her elect Three Unit art and be awarded the Senior Art award for her school. And whilst her pathway in education took her in a different direction, Jo continued to make art for the love of it and used drawing and painting as a means of deconstructing complex ideas of identity and belonging.
“I have always been an abstract artist and dabbled early on in my career with oils but now I love the freedom of pastels and acrylics. I get a bit messy when I paint, often using my fingers to blend colors and shape lines, I love the freedom acrylics give me and the depth of pastels, together they are my favorite medium. I like fine details but strive to work on big spaces as often my work feels like the inside of my head. It feels like I run at a million miles an hour and every stroke on the canvas is a simultaneous idea or thought.”
Jo first exhibited her work in Redfern in the 90’s but shied away from formal spaces suffering from imposter syndrome although you knew Jo liked and respected you if she gifted you a piece, and you could sometimes find her selling her art street-side in Paddington or Newtown.
“My artmaking is pure escapism, it allows me to stop and sit still, something I ordinarily struggle with, and be present in my own thoughts which are often painful and confusing. At least now after a session of painting it is easier to find internal peace and sleep, which is why I paint most nights. I tend to work through a piece from start to finish whether it takes me two hours or ten.”
2022 River of Art Prize Finalist
