About
Paul Roorda is a Waterloo artist who transforms found materials to create two-dimensional art, sculptures, and outdoor site-specific installations that examine the relationship between religion, medicine, science, and environmentalism. He has exhibited extensively with solo exhibitions in Canada, the United States, and Germany and has been awarded grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Paul Roorda was a finalist for the 2016 K.M. Hunter Artist Award in Ontario.
Paul Roorda has also been the subject of an episode of “The Artist’s Life” which aired on Bravo TV in 2005. He was Artist in Residence for the City of Kitchener, Ontario, in 2007 and at GlogauAIR in Berlin, in 2012 and 2015. His public interventions have been displayed in neighbourhoods in Kitchener/Waterloo, Toronto, and Ottawa. Paul Roorda’s art examines climate change, nostalgia, and the passage of time in a variety of media including slow moving kinetic sculptures, publicly installed interactive musical microgalleries, abstract landscape paintings, cyanotype photography, and a mail art project called “Somewhere Anywhere Postcards”.
Please contact Paul if you have inquiries about purchasing art.
Paul Roorda: CV
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Kunstraumno.10, Mönchengladbach, Germany: A Moment Between (catalogue)
2021 Somewhere Anywhere Postcards: A Mail Art Project
2020 Visitor and Heritage Information Centre, City of Waterloo, Ontario, Twilight Vision
2gallery, Picton, Ontario (Two person exhibition)
2019 Yorkminster Park Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Seeing Through Walls
Berlin ARTSPACE, Kitchener City Hall, Kitchener, Ontario, Time Stops
2018 Flea Market Gallery, Niagara Artists Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario, Time Stops
2017-2018 Time Stops, outdoor public art project, Waterloo, Ontario
2016 Kunstraumno.10, Mönchengladbach, Germany: Waiting for Sea, Waiting for Sky (catalogue)
2015 Yorkminster Park Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario: Night Gold
2014 Hilsbach Kunst Kultur, Hilsbach, Germany: Canary in the Coal Mine
Doug Adams Gallery, Pacific School of Theology, Berkeley, California, USA: Icon and Artifact
2013 Dadian Gallery, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC, USA: Rites and Remedies
Robert Kananaj Gallery, Toronto, Ontario: Rising Time
2012 Grimsby Public Art Gallery, Grimsby, Ontario (Two-person exhibition)
Durham Art Gallery, Durham, Ontario: Flood and Fiction
2011 Ottawa City Hall Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario: Take Notice (catalogue)
Yorkminster Park Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario: Slate Requiem
Gesù – Centre de Créativité, Montreal, Quebec: Les Pages
Convenience Gallery, Toronto, Ontario: Take Notice
2010 Redeemer University Gallery, Ancaster: Communion of the Faint: Confessions & Complications
2009 Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto: The Skeptic’s Gospel and Other Remedies for Truth
University of Waterloo, Critical Media Lab, Kitchener, Ontario: Rust, Oil and Rainbows (2 person)
2008 Homer Watson House and Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario: Rhythm of Fire
Rotunda Gallery, Kitchener City Hall, Kitchener, Ontario: Where the Pages Once Were
2007 Robert Langen Art Gallery, Wilfrid Laurier University: A Dose of Uncertainty for Times of Truth
Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts, Toronto, Ontario: Congregation of the Ambivalent
2006 Galerie Luz, Montreal, Quebec: Rustwork - New Encaustic Drawings
Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts, Toronto, Ontario: Encaustic Drawings: Earth, Ashes, Rust
2005 Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts, Toronto, Ontario: What They Didn't Tell Me
The Carnegie Gallery, Dundas, Ontario Foundations,
Harbinger Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario: Everything I Thought I Knew
2003 Rotunda Gallery, Kitchener City Hall, Kitchener, Ontario: Wallscapes
KOR Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario: Sunday Stories
Renison College, University of Waterloo, Ontario: Ritual in Time
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Kitchener–Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario, SOS: A Story of Survival, Part II - The Body
Hilbertraum, Berlin, Hide in the Dark
Redeemer University Gallery, Ancaster, Ontario, (the) Passion
2022 Imago, Toronto, Crossings (catalogue)
2021 Stichting Grafein, Purmerend, Netherlands, International Print Mail Art Exhibition
Imago Foundation for the Arts, Warrren, Rhode Island, USA, Wish You Were Here - A Mail Art Exhibit
Expo: Free as a Bird, Den Haag, Netherland (Mail art exhibition)
2019 Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Lift Series, Lost and Found
2017 Tri-City Stopgap, Waterloo, Pop-up Art Exhibition
2016 Helson Gallery, Halton Hills, Ontario: Transformations: An Exhibition of Altered Books
2014 Dadian Gallery, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC, USA: Dadian@25 (catalogue)
Regis College, Toronto, Ontario Painting Spirituality (catalogue)
Idea Gallery, Ontario Science Centre, Occam’s Razor: Art, Science and Aesthetics
2012 GlogauAIR, Berlin, Germany, Open Studio Exhibition (catalogue)
Whitestone Gallery, Guelph, Ontario: Open Book: An Exploration of Books as Art
2011 Blake Prize Finalist Exhibition, Sydney, Australia
Society for Literature Science and the Arts Exhibition, Critical Media Lab,Kitchener: Pharmakon
University of Waterloo, Critical Media Lab, Kitchener, Ontario: Take Notice
2008 Toronto School of Theology, Toronto, Ontario: Till We Have Faces
Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant, Brantford, Ontario: Asking Questions (catalogue)
2007 Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts, Toronto: Text
Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario: Convergence: 44th Annual Juried Exhibition
2006 Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario: Illuminating the Source
Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant, Brantford, Ontario: Juried Art Exhibition
Galerie D’Art Jean-Claude-Bergeron, Ottawa, Ontario: Art and Paper VII
2005 Ontario Society of Artists 131th Annual Open Juried Exhibition, Toronto: Metamorphosis
2004 Galerie D’Art Jean-Claude-Bergeron, Ottawa, Ontario: Art and Paper VI
2003 Kitchener–Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario: 1st KWAG Biennial
Education
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, British Columbia (Part time 1997-1998)
Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, M.A. Sociology (1992)
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, B.Ed. (1990)
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, B.A. Psychology (1988)
Selected Bibliography
“Bonn Park: Paul Roorda” Episode 117, January 12, 2022 (podcast interview)
”Falling Sky, Rising Sea” Ruminate Magazine, (Columbus, Ohio, USA), Issue No. 60, Fall 2021, (featured art)
”Mail art makes a comeback as pandemic locks artists out of galleries” Kate Taylor, The Globe and Mail, February 15, 2021 (review)
“Fine art in your mailbox: Local artist creates unique postcards” Anam Latif, Waterloo Region Record, January 25, 2021 (article)
“Safe in my Pocket” Rod Pattenden, Artway (Netherlands), March 1, 2020 (essay)
“El Pasaje Dorado, de Paul Roorda” Vida Nueva, (Spain), September 2, 2018, Fernando Vidal (essay)
“Diptico Pascual, de Paul Roorda” Vida Nueva, (Spain), October 6, 2018, Fernando Vidal (essay)
The Morning Edition, Craig Norris, CBC Radio, Kitchener, Ontario, Oct 12, 2017 (radio interview)
The Mike Farwell Show, Mike Farwell, 570 CHYM News, Kitchener, Ontario, Oct 11, 2017 (radio interview)
“Waterloo artist told to remove street art” Laura Booth, Waterloo Region Record, 11 Oct 2017 (article)
The Mike Farwell Show, Glenn Pelletier, 570 CHYM News (Kitchener) June 23, 2017 (radio interview)
“Why a Waterloo artist is hanging boxes with trinkets in his neighbourhood” Flora Pan, CBC News
(Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario) June 19, 2017 (article)
“Der Hüter der Langsamkeit” Inge Schnettler, Rheinishe Post (Mönchengladbach, Germany) (review)
“Edgy Seminary Exhibit Shows the Bible Transformed” S. Hodges, United Methodist Reporter (Texas)
March 2013 (review)
“In Conversation With: Paul Roorda” Paula Pluchino, The Artship, (Italy) 27 March, 2013 (interview)
“With Books: Paul Roorda - Encaustic Drawings, Marianne Brandis - Memoir” Editor, Judith Miller,
Stonegarden Studios, (Waterloo) (art book)
“Featured Artist: Paul Roorda” Jim Watkins, Transpositions, (United Kingdom) 2 August, 2012 (review)
“Take Notice” Dipna Horra, Ottawa Morning, CBC Radio (Ottawa), 2011 (review)
“Voir Passe Le Temps” Katy Le Van, Voir (Gatineau/Ottawa), 2011 (review)
“Biblical Pharmacon” Chris Cuthill, Artway (Netherlands), June 13, 2010 (essay)
“God is Dead and I’m Not Feeling So Well Myself: Theological Engagements with the New Atheism”
Editors: A. David, C. J. Keller, J. D. Stanley, Cascade Books, (Eugene, Oregon) 2009 (chapter)
“Paul Roorda’s Art Views the Gospel Through Skeptical Eyes” Sheila Dabu, The Catholic Register
(Toronto) 23 March, 2009 (review)
“Nature Unveiled” Robert Reid, The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo) 15 November 2008 (review)
“Asking Questions” Kathryn Carter, Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant, (Brantford) 2008 (catalogue essay)
“Point of Truth” Robert Reid, The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo) 2 October 2007 (review)
“Diversity of Show Illuminates” Robert Reid, The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo) 18 Oct 2006 (review)
“The Artist's Life” Ticklescratch Productions. BRAVO! 8 May 2005 (half-hour profile)
"Spiritual Revelations in Art" Mirko Petricevic. The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo) 19 Feb 2005 (review)
Selected Grants and Awards
Region of Waterloo ARTSFUND Grant, 2007, 2018, 2020, 2023
Ontario Arts Council, Visual Arts Grant: Mid-Career Artist, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2023
K.M. Hunter Artist Award finalist, 2016
Canada Council for the Arts, Project Grant: 2010, 2013, 2015; Travel Grant: 2012, 2016
Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013
Best Mixed Media Art Award, Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, 2012
The Blake Prize, finalist, Sydney, Australia, 2011
Founding Chaiman’s Award, Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, 2010
Ontario Arts Council, Visual Arts Grant: Emerging Artist, 2004, 2007, 2009
Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education Grant, 2009
Award of Merit, Ontario Society of Artists 135th Annual Open Juried Exhibition, Toronto, 2009
Lincoln Croft Memorial Award “Convergence” Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, 2007
Award of Merit, “Annual Juried Exhibition” Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant, Brantford, 2006
OSA Prize, Ontario Society of Artists 132nd Annual Open Juried Exhibition, Toronto, 2006
Professional Involvement, Residencies and Artist Talks
2023 Parkminster United Church Speaker Series, artist talk, A Moment Between
2021 Inter Arts Matrix, X-Camera Series, artist talk, Somewhere Anywhere
Miraculous Sickness, by ky perraun, At Bay Press, cover art for book of poetry
2018 Conrad Grebel University College, guest lecturer for course: Sacred Beauty
2017 Waterloo Region, AMPLIFY Culture Summit, Placemaking - artist talk and presentation
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Decelearated Dialogues, symposium presentation
University of Waterloo, 60th Anniversary Alumni Awards Gala, art for award and speech
2015 Bridge Centre for Architecture and Design, Cambidge, Ontario, Artcop21, artist talk
Institute for Christian Studies, Orvieto, Italy, Art, religion & theology, graduate course, instructor
GlogauAIR, Artist Residency, Berlin, Germany
2013 Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington DC, artist talk
2012 GlogauAIR, Artist Residency, Berlin, Germany
CAFKA Contemporary Art Forum of Kitchener and Area, board member (2009 to 2012)
Public Art Working Group, City of Kitchener, chair (member from 2008 to 2012)
Durham Art Gallery, artist talk
University of Waterloo, Department of Fine Arts, guest speaker for “Text as an Image” course
2011 Society for Literature, Science and Arts Conference, panel discussion, “Pharmakon”
City of Kitchener, City Centre Public Art Project, jury member
City of Kitchener, Rotunda Gallery Exhibition Selection, jury member
Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario, Visual Art Conference, keynote address
Ottawa City Hall Art Gallery, artist talk
2010 Ontario Arts Council, Artists in Education Grant, jury member
City of Kitchener, Kingsdale Community Centre public art commission, jury member
City of Kitchener, Student Video Art Competition, jury member
Redeemer University Art Gallery, artist talk
2009 City of Kitchener, Artist in Residence Selection, jury member
City of Kitchener, Rotunda Gallery Exhibition Selection, jury member
Institute for Christian Studies, artist talk
2008 Kitchener City Hall, artist talk
City of Kitchener, Rotunda Gallery Exhibition Selection, jury member
2007 City of Kitchener, Artist in Residence
University of Waterloo, 50th Anniversary Alumni Awards Gala, art for award and speech
Wilfrid Laurier University, lecture, “A Dose of Uncertainty”
2006 Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, panel discussion, “Source and Inspiration”
Ontario College of Art and Design, lecture, “Religion in Art”
Paul Roorda would like to thank the Waterloo Region Arts Fund and the Ontario Arts Council for their support in his ongoing project: Fake Meets Fiction: AI, Analogue, and Art.