The arts have always been a part of Roxanne Rodwell's life beginning with her early immersion into music learned literally, on her mother's knee. The power of music permeated every part of her life from the time her mother rocked her, singing lullabies that she composed extemporaneously to accompany nursery rhymes.
Although Roxanne read music before she read words, she didn't attempt to apply it as a serious pursuit until her children were in college. Ultimately, she graduated from the Colege of the Ozarks with a degree in piano performance and taught piano privately until moving to the Southwest.
The importance of her artistic talent was recognized and at age eleven she was privileged to attend membership classes at Chicago Art Institute where she drew from live models along with a hall full of young students. In a conversation with Judy Chicago on the occasion of her retrospective exhibition at New Mexico State University, they compared notes of thir mutual experience in that class.
Leaving her birth place, Branson, Missouri, the art spirit remained strong through constant changes in climate, culture and language. Always, Roxanne found teachers along the way among whom there were three or four who kept her inspired and working.
In the past ten years she has participated in special studies with Alex Powers, William Herring, Gil Dellinger, Charles Reid, Gregg Kreutz, Scott Burdick,Lorenzo Chavez and Linda Kaiser-Smith. Each having their special strengths and talents has kept Roxanne striving toward her goal of mastery as an artist.
She was honored with a solo exhitit at the Las Cruces Museum of Fine Arts and Culture showing a volume of work reflecting the essence of woman through legend and myth as lived unconsciously throughout history.
