Roy Van der Aa

Born in Amsterdam, Holland, Roy van der Aa grew up in Montreal, Canada.  As a teen he earned a study scholarship to Amsterdam and Paris with a painting group. His formal education includes 2 years of Fine Art specialty at John Abbott College, and 3 years at Concordia University in Montreal studying printmaking and archaeology.  He considers himself to be a full time, professional artist from 1978. In 1981, he founded Zones, a cooperative fine arts studio and exhibition space for contemporary art open until he moved to the US in 1989. 

van der Aa has exhibited with the group ArtForms since its inception in 1997, with the Border Artists and the Insighters, a local group with a metaphysical focus. He has had over 100 solo, 2 person and group shows. Since 2008, He has shown in Truth or Consequenses, Carrizozo, Socorro, Alamogordo, Mesilla, Silver City, Roswell and El Paso, TX. In addition, his work is held in private and public collections in Canada and the US.

In 2011, van der Aa’s work was juried into the national art rental program Turning Art. In 2012 he renovated and reopened his studio as Aa Studios, a contemporary art gallery featuring six 2 month shows with different artists annually.. In January 2015, he juried the show “Lines, Lines, Lines” at the Deming Art Center, and co-juried the 32nd Roswell Fine Arts League juried Show in August. He was voted Las Cruces’ “Outstanding Artist” for 2015 by the group ArtForms.

van der Aa has been a practicing graphic artist since 1976 and has published the INK Newspaper for 19 years. He lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico with his wife, author Robin L. Baxa, and their filmmaker son, Rowan.

You can view more of van der Aa’s work on his website: https://www.royvanderaa.com.