CURRICULUM VITAE
DR. DESMOND ROCHFORT

Address:
email:desmond@telusplanet.net

Nationality: Canadian/British

Professional Qualifications
1986 Ph.D., Royal College of Art. Thesis: A New Realism - The Development of a Revolutionary Public Art in the Mural Art of David Alfaro Siqueiros. London, UK
1974 Masters in Fine Art (MFA) Royal Academy Schools.Royal Academy of Art, London, UK
1971 Byam Shaw Diploma in Fine Art of the Byam Shaw School of Art. London, UK
1970 London Certificate in Art and Design (Byam Shaw School of Art.) London, UK

Post Secondary Education
1982-85 Doctoral Research, Royal College of Art, London. Original research carried out in the United States of America and Mexico.
1971-74 Royal Academy Schools, Royal Academy of Art, London. Post-graduate study.
1968-71 Byam Shaw School of Art, London. Undergraduate studies.
1967-68 Yeovil School of Art, Somerset. Foundation studies.

Teaching/Administrative Positions
1999 - President, Alberta College of Art & Design. Calgary, Alberta
1990-1999 Professor and Chair, Department of Art and Design, University of Alberta
1989-1990 Director of the Masters Degree Program in the Theory and Practice of Public Art and Design. Chelsea College of Art and Design (Faculty of Design), London, U.K.
1979-1989 Lecturer in environmental mural painting and design. Department of Mural Design, Chelsea School of Art (Faculty of Design), London, U.K.
1980-1986 Director of Art History Studies at the Byam Shaw School of Art, London, U.K.
1979-1981 Lecturer in Fine Art, Croyden College of Art. U.K.

Selected Exhibitions/Public Mural Commissions
2002 Exhibition. Viva Mexico. An exhibition featuring the work of Diego Rivera. Glenbow Museum. Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Principal advisor and consultant.

1999 Exhibition Curator: Lines of Site: Ideas, Forms and Materialities. An exhibition of Printworks from 25 years of the University of Alberta, Department of Art and Design Printmaking Division
- Royal College of Art, London UK - March/April 1999
- Musashino University, Tokyo Japan - May/June 1999

1997 Exhibition. Siqueiros - Portrait of a Decade. Curator, advisor, consultant
( Mural section of the exhibition) Whitechapel Gallery London. United Kingdom

1997 Exhibition Latitude 53 Group Exhibition spring show. Latitude 53 Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta

1995 Exhibition Director: Rubens to Picasso - Four Centuries of Master Drawing, Fine Arts Building Gallery, University of Alberta

1994 Exhibition Curator: Feast for the Eye. Selections from the Collection of the Edmonton Art Gallery, Fine Arts Building Gallery. University of Alberta

1993 Exhibition Burdens of Culture. Loan installation of mural drawing from the collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts - Royal Alexandra Hospital Edmonton, Alberta

1993 Exhibition Recent Acquisitions from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Traveling exhibition shown at Triangle Gallery, Calgary; Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery, Medicine Hat; Prairie Gallery, Grande Prairie

1992 Exhibition Selected Acquisitions of Alberta Foundation for the Arts Fine Arts Building Gallery, University of Alberta.

1989 Mural. British Telecom International mural. London, U.K. 20 x 10 feet, acrylic on wood

1987 Exhibition Advisor, consultant. Diego Rivera - A retrospective. Haywood Gallery. London.

1986-87 Mural: Labour in History - A Struggle for Progress. Trades Union Congress National Education Centre. Hornsey, London, U.K. 42 x 14 feet, acrylic on concrete

1985 Exhibition of contemporary British Drawing, West Surrey College of Art. UK

1984 Exhibition. Exhibition of drawings of the Battle of Cable Street Mural. Whitechapel Public Library Gallery. London, UK.

1982-83 Mural: The Battle of Cable Street, St. Georges Old Town Hall, Cable Street, London, U.K. 65 x 55 feet, Keim Farben silicate paint on concrete render.

1982 Exhibition L'Art Public, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs touring exhibition of contemporary mural painting

1981 Exhibition. Painting the Town. Photographs of British Murals, Tate Gallery, London, UK.

1980 Exhibition. British Council Touring Exhibition of photographs of murals in Britain

1978 Exhibition. Art for Whom? Arts Council exhibition. Curated by Richard Cork. Serpentine Gallery, London, UK.

1980-81 Mural: Portrait of a Generation. Ironmonger Road Centre, London, U.K. 50 x 15 feet, acrylic on concrete

1976-77 Mural: The Construction Workers, Royal Oak, London, U.K. 80 x 40 feet, Keim Farben Silicate paint on concrete render.

1975-76 Mural: The Marylands Community Centre Mural, London, U.K. 40 x 15 feet, acrylic on concrete

Public Acquisitions in Canada
1991 The Burdens of Culture. 108" x 42" Graphite on paper, purchased by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Selected Published Works
2004 Mexican Muralism: Orozco,Rivera, Siqueiros ( revised edition. Chinese translation) Tsinghua University Press (in press)

2002 Pendulum Pendula: Creative Synthesis. Exhibition catalogue essay. Exhibition of 12 paintings by Sandy Haeseker and John Hall. Kelowna Art Gallery. Kelowna British Coluimbia.

1999 Printmaking: Technologies and the Culture of the Reproducible Image. Grapheion. Prague. Czech Republic

1999 Lines of Site: Ideas forms and Materialities: An exhibition of Printworks. Exhibition catalogue. University of Alberta Press

1998 La Pittura Murale Messicana. Instituto Poligrafico. Milan, Italy.

1998 Pintura Mural Mexicana. Limusa Editorial. Mexico City, Mexico.

1998 Mexican Muralism: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros.(North American paperback edition) Chronicle Books. San Francisco

1997 Reflections of a National Struggle: The Murals of the Nicaraguan Revolution. Oxford Art Journal

1997 Mexican Muralism: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros (British Paperback edition) Calman and King London UK

1994 Pintura Mural Mexicana, Limussa Editorial, Mexico City, Mexico.

1993 Mexican Muralism: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros, Calman & King Ltd. London, U.K.

1993 Mexican Muralism: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros, Universe Press/Rizolli, New York, USA.

1987 The Murals of Diego Rivera, Journeyman Press. London, UK.

1985 Ray Walker: Memorial Exhibition catalogue. Royal Festival Hall. London, UK.

1985 Ray Walker: Journal of Art and Art Education. London, UK.

1982 Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti, Creative Camera. London, UK.

1982 History in the Murals of Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros. Artery: Journal of Art. London, UK.

1982 Orozco - Public Judgements, Private Conscience, Artery: Journal of Art. London, UK.

1981 Orozco: A Terrible Beauty - The Murals of Guadalajara, exhibition catalogue. Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK.

1981 The Mexican Mural Movement, Artery: Journal of Art. London, UK.

1976 English influences in the art of Van Gogh, Artery: Journal of Art, London

1973 Leger and Francis Bacon, Review. Artery: Journal of Art, London, UK.

Bibliography

- Alberta Artists Cross the Pond. Globe and Mail. March 27th, 1999
- The Drawing Power of Great Artists, Globe and Mail, October 14, 1995
- Doing Well by Doing Good, Edmonton Journal, November 1995
- Master of Arts, Edmonton Journal, October 1995
- Mingling with the Masters, Edmonton Journal, September 1995
- Politics and Art, review by Charles Mandel, Edmonton Journal, May 21, 1994
- Arts Bridge, Vol. 2, Issue 4, August 1993, Alberta
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio, Arts program, Interview November 24, 1987
- London Evening Standard, review, November 12, 1987
- Sunday Times, Review section, November 1, 1987
- BBC, Radio 4 Kaleidoscope Arts program, Interview, October 20, 1987
- Mexico City News, July 1987
- British Art since 1900, by Frances Spurling, Thames and Hudson, London 1986
- L'Art Public, exhibition catalogue, Peintres Murales Contemporaines et tradionelles. Published by Association pour la diffusion de la pensee Francaise pour le compte du ministere des relations exterieures 1982
- Community Murals, by Alan Barnet, Philadelphia Art Alliance Press USA, 1982
- Tribune, September 18, 1981. London, UK.
- The Times, August 11, 1981. London, UK.
- The New Standard, July 24, 1981. London, UK.
- Labour Weekly, July 3, 1981. London, UK.
- Islington Gazette, June 1981. London, UK.
- The Art We Deserve. Arts Council film, directed by Jeremy Marre, written by Richard Cork, 1979. London, UK.
- The Royal Oak Murals, by Richard Cork, Art Monthly, No. 15, 1978
- Observer Review, October 23, 1977. London, UK.
- Behind these trees is the largest mural in Europe, October 1977, Kensington Post. London, UK.

Visiting Lecturer in the History of Art at the Following Academic Institutions Since 1974:
The National Gallery. Ottawa. Canada.
The Tate Gallery London
Royal College of Art, Dept. of Painting
Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Royal Academy Schools, Royal Academy of Art, London
Slade School of Fine Art, London
Central School of Art, London
St. Martins School of Art, London
Middlesex Polytechnic, Department of Fine Art
Ravensbourne College of Art, Kent
Maidstone College of Art, Kent
West of England College of Art, Bristol
Bath Academy of Art, Bath
Yeovil School of Art, Somerset
Falmouth School of Art, Cornwall
Cardiff College of Art, Cardiff, Wales
Swansea School of Art, Wales
Newport School of Art, Wales
Sheffield School of Art
Leeds College of Art
Bradford College of Art and Design
Newcastle Polytechnic, Dept. of Fine Art
Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland
Duncan and Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, Scotland
Cambridge University, Dept. of Latin American Studies
Warwick University, Dept. of American Studies
Edinburgh University, Dept. of Art History
Amman University, Faculty of Architectural Studies, Amman, Jordan
University of Guadalajara, Mexico
Academy of San Carlos, Mexico City
Queens University, Ontario, Canada.
Mount Allison University New Brunswick. Canada
University of British Columbia.
University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Selected Conferences (paper delivered)
1997 Siqueiros and Modern Mexican Culture. An International Symposium on. Whitechapel Gallery London. Paper delivered entitled: The Nightmare of the Machine - The Utopias of Technology: Visions of the Machine Age in the Work of the Mexican Muralists

1995 Text and Intertextuality. An interdisciplinary conference between the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary. Paper Delivered: Trading on Borders - Bordering on Trade: The Age of Transnational Cultures

1992 Threatened Identities, international symposium on Canadian, American and Mexican culture. Paper delivered entitled Configurations and Convergences of History - Culture, History and Revolution and the Public Murals of Mexico, at the University of British Columbia

1990 30 Centuries of Mexican Art. Conference on Mexican Culture, Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas, USA. Paper delivered entitled Configurations and Convergences of History, History in the Murals of Orozco, Rivera and Siqueiros

1989 International Art Historians Conference. Institute of Education, London University. Paper delivered entitled Cultural Colonialism - Misreadings of a Post Colonial Culture. The Case of the Mexican Mural Movement

1989 Metropolis: City Centres of Art in the 20th Century. International symposium at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Paper delivered entitled Mexico City and the Mexican Mural

1988 Art and Architecture conference. Paper delivered on The Relationship Between the Artist and the Architect. Oxford Polytechnic. Oxford, UK.

1987 Society of Latin American Studies. Paper delivered: The History Murals of Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros, Cambridge University, United Kingdom

1987 Symposium on the Spanish Civil War. Paper delivered Comparison Between Picasso's "Guernica" and Siqueiros' "Portrait of the Bourgeoisie", Warwick University, United Kingdom

1986 Symposium on the Mexican Revolution. Paper delivered: The Role of the Mexican Muralist in the Mexican Cultural Revolution. Warwick University, United Kingdom.

1984 National Mural Conference, Chelsea School of Art, London. Paper delivered: The Education of the Muralist.

1983 National Mural Conference. Wolverhampton Polytechnic. Paper delivered: Siqueiros.

 

Further selected Curatorial, Advisory and Consultancy Work

1992 Jury Member - Edmonton City Hall Public Art Commissions

1987 Advisor and consultant for Diego Rivera. Revolutionary With a Paint Brush, BBC TV Arena documentary, transmitted November 20, 1987

1986-1987 Advisory Board Member of the West Midlands Public Arts Development Trust, U.K.

1981 British Council, Amman, Jordan