Denise Rouleau grew up in Duluth, MN. She received her BA in International Relations and Italian at the University of Minnesota. During a fifth year of study at the University of Bologna, she attended a Byzantine art course which kindled a growing interest in medieval art and architecture.
Denise enjoys working with materials in unexpected ways. Her multimedia installations tempt viewers to look closer, uncover secrets, and create stories. With her collaborator, Mark Roberts, she populated vintage letterpress cases with clay mummy figures and produced a series of manipulated polaroid imagery at Como Park’s Marjorie McNealy Conservatory. Denise completed an eight month certification with the Minnesota New Institute of Ceramic Education in 2015 to connect with the full spectrum of ceramics. She is currently working on a series of archeological vignettes in paper clay that reveal clues about the cycles of life and our complicated relationship with nature in our urban environment.
Denise also organizes art events, community projects and rehabs furniture.