Doris Rohr
I continue to I develop notebooks building on my practice-based PHD research "Drawing on nature- the legacy of John Ruskin's moral cosmos" (October 2016 with Lancaster University LICA). I am also developing observational drawing skills from objects displayed in museums, with a particular interest in natural history. This connects with previous explorations in representation of nature, and the loss of species and biological diversity.
Following John Ruskin’s proposed method of closely observing detail from nature, my working practice aims to develop critical drawing as eco-aesthetic category, drawing that may contribute to raising awareness of ecological responsibility. I am also motivated by Joseph Beuys' drawings, his 'imprints' which evolved into social sculpture, environmental activism and performances. I am seeking for further continuities and possibilities to make drawing embody environmental awareness, relying on the wider definition of drawing as gesture, action and aesthetic category. Within this observational and multi-sensory formats of drawing provide a firm anchor, connecting past with present, perception with imagination.
Another interest of mine is the poetic integration of writing with drawing in the form of journals and notebooks, and through writing creative and academic texts. I am a member of the Drawing Journal - an Ulster based arts cooperative which engages in the relationship of drawing word and image:
https://thedrawingjournalnet.wordpress.com/
https://www.instagram.com/thedrawingjournal_/
Writing as critical practice is another strand of my work. I have published essays on drawing, ecology, art and science. See below.
Lived Experience
Born in Hameln, Lower Saxony, Germany, I moved to the UK to study at WSCAD (West Surrey College of Art and Design). After graduating I moved around England for a while, settling for a few years in Birmingham and the West Midlands. My first permanent teaching job was with Norwich School of Art and Design, and lasted sevent years before I got itchy feet again. After a two year stint at Cumbria Institute of Art and Design Carlisle teaching drawing, I relocated to Northern Ireland where I stayed with Belfast School of Art until 2018. Since then I continue to be working as an Associate Lecturer in Fine Art and Art History. I live in North Yorkshire in a small rural town called Bentham.
Solo/Duo exhibitions:
2017 To See the Mountain in the Stone, the Forest in the Tree Exhibition and public workshop at Florence Arts Centre Cumbria (22nd July – 12th August 2017)
2016 Jetsam (PhD exhibition) Storey Institute Lancaster in conjunction with LICA, Lancaster University, http://www.riad.ulster.ac.uk/display.php?email=d.rohr@ulster.ac.uk
2015 Dwindling Abundance Michael Geddis and Doris Rohr, The Georgian Gallery, Ards Art Centre, Newtownards
2010 Doris Rohr & Bridget Farmer Weather Drawings, Graffan Gallery, WWT Centre Castle Espie, Co Down
2003 - Dounreay, Dean Clough, Halifax
1996 - Swan Theatre, Worcester
Group exhibitions
2023 Quiet Wanders Laughing The Drawing Journal: Tamzin Ashcroft, Niamh Clarke, Hannah Clegg, Daniel Coleman, Shauna McDonald, Sharon McKeown and Doris Rohr, Hyde Bridge Gallery, Yeats Society Sligo. 5th to 26th August 2023. https://thedrawingjournalnet.wordpress.com/
2020/21 Image of Thought The Drawing Journal (group exhibition) Culturlann Madam O Fiaich Dec 2020-Jan 21 Archive available via https://www.imageofthought.com/
2014-16 Paper, Wall, Table and After, curators Sian Bowen and Chris Dorsett (1st December 2014- 23rd January 2015); Part 1: Northumbria University, Gallery North: 1st December 2014- 23rd January 2015; Part 2: National Taiwan University of Arts, Taipei, 30th November – 6th December 2016 https://paperstudionorthumbria.wordpress.com/exhibitions/paper-table-wall-and-after/
2013-2015 "Line - An Ambiguous Journey" IADT Dun Laoghaire (October 2013), travelling to Crescent Arts Centre Belfast (November 2013) and to Culturlann gallery West Belfast (2015)
2012 Synthetic Aesthetics (Group Show: Clancy, Gregory, Holmes, Larkin, McKeever, McMurray, Rohr) Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton, August- September 2012.
2012 Contemporary Artists from Northern Ireland, Brussels, Brussels Platform: a collaboration between the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Executive Office in Brussels designed to showcase local artists on a European stage, September 2011 - February 2012.
2011 Drawing a Line, Drawing Group Exhibition University of Ulster, co-curated with Hugh Mulholland and Helen O’Hare, Belfast Campus Gallery, University of Ulster, October 2011.
2009 2nd Bangkok Triennale International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
2009 Eros/Thanatos Engramme, Quebec, Canada
2008 Seven Foyer Gallery, University of Ulster, University of Ulster Belfast
2008 127th Annual Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, Titanic Drawing Offices, Belfast-
2008/2009 All Over the Place: Drawing Place, Drawing Space", Land 2 group exhibition at University of West of England, Bristol, touring to The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds 2009
2007 Array Studio Group Exhibition, Island Arts Centre, Lisburn, Northern Ireland
2006 Exchange of Belfast Printworkshop with LA Printmaking Society, Greanleaf Gallery, Whittier College, Los Angeles, USA
2005 Folly Gallery, Lancaster
2004 North: Dounreay drawings Lyth Arts Centre, Lyth/Wick, Caithness
2003 Brewery Open, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal
1999 Eastern Open, Kings Lynn
1999 Drawing Connections, John Innes Centre/Kansas State University, Norwich, GB and Kansas, USA
1995 Memory and Glimpses Icon Gallery Touring; Birmingham
1993 Towards a New Landscape Coventry Gallery, London
Residencies & Awards
2013 Marine Laboratory Portaferry
2012 Prison Arts Foundation: Maghaberry
2005 Drawing on Landscape, Symposium Sculptors Society Ireland & Burren College of Art, Burren College, County Clare, Ireland
2000-2001 Vicky Oppenheimer-Blum Travel bursary
Projects / Publications
Rohr, D (Autumn 2023) Book Chapter: ‘Dust’ for Pattern and Chaos: Making and Meaning (eds Sarah Horton & Victoria Mitchell); Intellect.
Rohr D (2022) ‘Drawing Deeply’ in Geddis & Kidney Mergeemerge Exhibition Catalogue, Balinglen Foundation and Mermaid Arts Centre, County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland, pp 4-11.
Rohr, D. (2021). Digital Wabi: meditations on digital error and analogue fixing. Academia Letters, Article 242. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL242. https://www.academia.edu/45441189/Digital_Wabi_meditations_on_digital_error_and_analogue_fixing
Penketh, C and Rohr, D (2021) ‘Drawingability’ (Editorial) Drawing Research Theory and Practice Vol 6.1, pp 3-13 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/drtp/2021/00000006/00000001
Clarke, N and Rohr D (2020) Project Report: ‘Collaborative project: From cradle to parlour, journal article, Drawing Research Theory and Practice Vol 5.1, pp 59-72.
Rohr, D. (2019) Book chapter ‘Art and Science in the Age of the Anthropocene’ in Alannah Robins [ed] From dream to dream: where art meets science, Interface interfaceinagh.com pp 90-97
Rohr, D (2018/19) ‘Drawing in and out of Place' in Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology, Vol 30 No 1, Winter/ Spring 2018/19, pp 21-28 , ISSN 1083–9194
Gere, Charlie and Rohr, Doris (2018) Drawing Research Theory and Practice Vol 3.1 Joint Editorial ‘Drawing on Text’ p.1-17, 2018, https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=247
Ashworth, Jenn, Gere, Charlie and Rohr, Doris (2017) "Farewell Terpsichore – an improvisation on smiles, shadows and breath". LUNE, 00 (1). pp. 72-97. [Journal article] https://lunejournal.org/submissions/
Rohr, D (2016) Drawing on Nature: the legacy of Ruskin’s Moral Cosmos https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/82473/?template=search
Rohr, D (November 2015) Drawing Research Theory and Practice Vol. 1.1 joint editorial Adriana Ionascu/ Doris Rohr.
2013 Rohr "Good Art Bad Art - What is a 'good' drawing?" Visual Enquiry: Learning and Teaching Art Issue 2:1
2012 Rohr "Imagining Truth" in Tracey Drawing Knowledge http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/sota/tracey/journal/edu/rohr.html
2005 Antrim Road (text), ABRIDGED 2, Oct/Nov 05, Context Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland
2005 NORTH (artist book: travel writing and drawing), Cumbria Unipress, Cumbria Institute of the Arts, Carlisle
2000 "Looking through the Ground Glass" (text), Sleep of Reason (exhibition and exhibition catalogue) Norwich Gallery, Norwich School of Art and Design
2000 "The Status of Drawing" (text), Connections, (exhibition catalogue), Norwich School of Art and Design, Norwich
Current Employment:
Senior Lecturer Fine Art, Liverpool Hope University (Jan 2018 ongoing)
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