Artist BiographyLigia M. Römer, Ph.D., is a licensed architect with a doctorate in philosophy. Born and raised in Curaçao, she came to the U.S. to study architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in Troy, NY. Upon graduating in 1988 with both a B.Arch. and B.S. in Building Science, she moved to New York City where she worked at Furnstahl & Simon Architects until acquiring her license to practice architecture in 1991. She then returned to graduate school to pursue a doctorate in philosophy at the CUNY Graduate School & University Center, in Manhattan.
During her graduate studies Römer started teaching architecture as an adjunct professor at RPI and established her practice Bouwkunst, in New York in 1992, specializing in residential design. Upon receiving her Ph.D. she continued teaching architecture, at Mississippi State University and University of Louisiana at Lafayette (formerly the University of Southwestern Louisiana), including design studio, drawing, and architectural history, as well as aesthetics and philosophy of architecture. As her teaching brought her down to the Gulf Coast, Römer settled in Ocean Springs, MS, in 2000. She joined the faculty at Tulane University School of Architecture in New Orleans, LA, as an Adjunct Professor from 2000‒05 and 2008‒09 while continuing her practice in residential design. |
In 2010 Römer shifted from academia into the institutional art world.
She was appointed director of the Dusti Bongé Art Foundation (DBAF) in 2019, where she served as registrar and curator since 2015. Before joining the DBAF she worked at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art as registrar. At the DBAF she managed the 2019 publication of Dusti Bongé, Art and Life; Biloxi, New Orleans, New York—the first major survey examining the artist’s career. Römer worked with author J. Richard Gruber, Ph.D., to conduct research, liaise with the Bongé family, and oversee the collection of imagery and new photography. Additionally, Römer contributed to the development of an exhibition of Bongé’s work Piercing the Inner Wall: The Art of Dusti Bongé organized by, and presented at, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in 2019. Römer is licensed in the States of New York and Mississippi, and registered by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. |