Mural Love Submission: Denise Weaver Ross and Roe LiBretto

Denise Weaver Ross explores her understanding of the world through images richly layered with
mythological, natural, cultural, and historical references. She feels the magic happens when disparate
images combine to make a new and unexpected new image with the layers resonating with
undiscovered meaning.

Denise has lived and worked in Albuquerque since 1996 and shows regularly at Ghostwolf and Tortuga
Galleries. Some of her achievements and honors are listed below:

2019–completed her fourth mural. This mural was at Orpheum Community Hub building at 500 2nd
Street in Albuquerque. This mural celebrates the history and cultural of the Barelas neighborhood.

2018–designated a Local Treasure by the Albuquerque Business Arts Association and led a team of
artists including Roe LiBretto and Joel Davis in creating a 24×90-foot mural that wraps around the
Tortuga Gallery in Albuquerque. The mural was part of Mural Fest 2018 and celebrates the flora and
fauna of Albuquerque’s Bosque. She showed the I Ching Hexagram series in a one-person show at
Tortuga Gallery.

2017–commissioned to do the poster painting for ¡Globalquerque!, Albuquerque’s annual world music
festival, where she also exhibited her String series based on musical instruments. Earlier in 2017 she
completed her second mural entitled We the People that depicts dancers from many cultural traditions
along a 40-foot wall on Tapia Road in the South Valley.

2016—won Best in Show in the Las Vegas International Juried Art Competition at Jana’s RedRoom
Gallery with one of the paintings from her House of Cards series and showed her Legendary Creatures
series at Tortuga Gallery.

2015—her House of Cards series of fifty-six 26×40-inch paintings was displayed in at Tortuga Gallery.
Three pieces from the series where also displayed in Times Square as part of the international SeeMe
competition. Earlier in 2015 she completed her first mural in the community garden at The Source,
behind Michael Thomas Coffee at 1111 Carlisle SE.

Denise graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst with a Master of Fine Arts degree.
She has exhibited in galleries and museums both nationally and internationally. A prolific artist, Denise
is also a poet, with poems published in many anthologies as well as in five books of her own art and
poetry.

Roe LiBretto’s allegorical watercolors contain elements of universal stories presented as a
conglomerate of borrowed religious and personal iconography. Their purpose is to create an
opportunity for the viewer to gain insight into their own subconscious/unconscious self. As such, each
painting serves as a meditative piece presented in a humorous, contemporary, eye-catching way.
Roe’s work is held in private collections in the United States and Europe. She has lived and worked in
Albuquerque since 1992, and her work can be seen locally at Ghostwolf Gallery in Old Town,
Albuquerque.

Recent Awards and Projects
2019 The Architecture of Beauty: Works by Prominent NM Artists, Doctor’s and Staff Choice
Award, NMCC Gallery with a Cause

Outdoor Mural collaboration for Orpheum Community Hub, Albuquerque, NM.
This, Roe’s second mural collaboration with Denise Weaver Ross, celebrates the history
and cultural of the Barelas neighborhood. Roe’s responsibilities included operating an
articulated boom lift for projecting Denise’s design, color mixing, and painting.

North Towne Plaza Mural – This outdoor mural for Weingarten Realty, a client who found
our work on MUROS ABQ, was Roe’s second collaboration with artist Nikki Zabicki. In
addition to logistics management, and painting, Roe wrote the artist/client agreement for this
project.

2018 Local Treasure Designee, Albuquerque Art Business Association

Tortuga Bosque Mural – This 24×90-foot outdoor mural was created under the direction of
Denise Weaver Ross, for Tortuga Gallery, Albuquerque, NM. It was part of Mural Fest 2018
and celebrates the flora and fauna of Albuquerque’s Bosque. In addition to drawing and
painting the Cottonwood Section of the mural, Roe was responsible for coordinating artist
volunteers for the project.

Blackbird Dreams of the Bosque – indoor mural collaboration with Nikki Zabicki, for
Blackbird Cafe, Albuquerque, NM. Roe was responsible for creating a scale mock-up of the
site for the design phase of the project, prepping the site, and negotiating the artist/client
agreement.

Epiphany – commission for the private residence of Karly and Jason White, Albuquerque, NM
2016 The 7th Park Fine Art International Tour: Germany – Galerie Am Park, Frankfurt, Germany

Raising Consciousness – commission for the office of ReKonnected Body Massage &
Natural Therapeutics, Albuquerque, NM