Denise Weaver Ross is a multi-disciplinary artist, illustrator, muralist, and poet whose work spans the visual and literary arts. Her practice draws deeply on mythological, natural, cultural, and historical themes, intricately layering symbolic imagery to build rich, nuanced compositions. Known for fusing seemingly unrelated elements into cohesive and meaningful forms, she has developed a signature visual language that animates each of her major series, including House of Cards, Legendary Creatures, Art of the I Ching, and her current project, Postcards to America.

In her House of Cards series, Denise reinterprets a traditional deck of cards through 56 large-scale works on paper: spades become bones and fossils; diamonds transform into stars and constellations; clubs take the form of symbolic and botanical trees; and hearts explore personal experience through Tarot and ancient Egyptian symbolism. Legendary Creatures journeys through global folklore from A to Z, while her 64 Hexagrams series intertwines symbolic imagery with the yin-yang structure of the ancient I Ching. In Postcards to America, she juxtaposes the idealism of vintage postcards with contemporary and historical realities, revealing hidden stories and examining systemic issues across the United States.

Recent achievements include:

  • 2026: Completing her ninth mural, Sky of Life, at The Next Best Thing To Being There—her third mural at this unique shop on Mountain Road in Albuquerque.

  • 2025: Selected as one of four artists to collaborate with the community on a sign-like sculpture for Albuquerque’s new International District Park, part of the 2026 Route 66 Centennial. Continuing her work with middle school students to create school-based and public murals.

  • 2024: Finished her eighth mural at a private residence in Albuquerque’s Far Northeast Heights; CALIFORNIA: The Homeless State was selected for Arts North International 29 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts in Minnesota. Began teaching in Harwood Arts Center’s Youth Mural Program, guiding middle school students in creating public art.

  • 2023: Completed two murals—Sea of Life at The Next Best Thing To Being There and Secret Garden at Marble & 15th Street in Albuquerque. Exhibited work in three nationally juried shows in Georgia, Louisiana, and California.

  • 2022: Painted her fifth mural for The Next Best Thing To Being There and represented Albuquerque in VIVID: A Sample of Today’s Albuquerque Art Scene at the Attleboro Arts Museum in Massachusetts. Her piece MICHIGAN: The Great Divide earned an Underdog Prize in the 2022 ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

  • 2021: Received an Honorable Mention for GEORGIA: On My Mind at Dynamic: d’Art’s First Annual Contemporary Artist Exhibition in Norfolk, Virginia.

Denise holds an MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and raised in Wisconsin, she first discovered her passion for art at age eight during a visit to the Milwaukee Museum of Art. In addition to her visual work, she is a prolific poet with numerous publications and five books that integrate her art and poetry. She has lived and worked in Albuquerque since 1996.