Erin Root

Erin is interested in the intersections between designing exterior and interior structures, drawing, painting, farming, and directing a small arts and environmental non-profit called Scottsville’s Center for the Arts and the Natural Environment (SCAN).

Erin manages her own studio in Architectural and Landscape Architectural design. She received a Masters in both disciplines from the University of Virginia in 2013, and a Bachelor in Fine Arts, from the Corcoran School of Art and Design in Washington, DC in 2002. Following graduation, she sat on the board of the “Washington Sculptors Group” and worked at “Red Dirt Studio” while teaching Middle and High School Art practice, history, and theory at The Washington International School. In addition, she taught an inaugural course in parallel with the exhibition ”The Uncertainty of Objects and Ideas” at the Hirshhorn Museum. After leaving DC, Erin completed a Ceramics Residency at the “Cub Creek Foundation” in Appomattox, VA.

In graduate school Erin found ways to overlap her love of making and designing and apply them to her interest in social justice and environmental advocacy. After graduation, she received a Postdoctoral fellowship, from the Center for Global Health at UVa (funded by the NIH), to continue her research in flexible water infrastructure that is adaptable to the landscape and the needs of the communities in the Limpopo region of South Africa. After returning from South Africa, Erin taught Architecture and Design Thinking courses at the University of Virginia.

Since moving to a small farm in Howardsville, VA, Erin has used rural living as a way to fold farming practices, landscape architecture, architecture, and drawing and painting together in her days. The ecotones between each excite her, as she sees these gradients to be the place where surprising unknowns happen that catalyze new thoughts, theories, and conversations among all disciplines.