About

A native of the Carolinas, Carla received her B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and her M.F.A. from Pratt Institute in New York, New York. Carla has been teaching studio art at UNCP since 2003. Her areas of concentration are Drawing and Design.
She currently teaches Intermediate and Advanced Drawing, Figure Drawing, 2D Design, Professional Art Practices, and Graduate Drawing.

Her current work involves figurative abstraction and explores hybrid drawing methods via the deconstruction of fairy tales, myths, folklore, and popular media, and blends hand-drawn elements with photographs, found images from catalogues, coloring books, and children's books. She combines traditional and digital techniques of fragmentation, alteration and re-contextualization to encourage an interchangeable narrative.

Rokes has exhibited nationally, in such venues as the Rochester Contemporary Art Center in Rochester, New York, Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, North Carolina, McMaster Gallery in Columbia, South Carolina, Indiana University Fine Arts Gallery in Bloomington, Indiana, and A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. She has conducted over 20 educational workshops on mural painting, hybrid drawing techniques, and stop motion animation. Carla is actively involved in Arts-In-Education Residency programs and participates annually in K-12 schools and community organizations throughout Southeastern NC including CIS (Communities In Schools) and DREAMS Academy. Rokes has also given numerous presentations at professional art conferences and symposia on topics including contemporary drawing methods and professional art practices. While at UNC Pembroke, she has received two teaching awards.

Rokes was previously A.D. Gallery Director for UNCP (2008-2014), where she created UNCP's Biennial American Indian Art Series and curated numerous exhibitions. She has organized over 30 artist workshops and talks. Before joining the Art Department Faculty at UNCP, Carla worked as a Development Officer at The Drawing Center and Assistant Gallery Manager at Rosenberg and Kaufman Fine Arts in New York, New York.