Artist Garrison Roots is best known for his large-scale installation work that leaves nothing to chance. Major architectural changes, such as a new floor, new walls and ceiling are common alterations Roots makes to an exhibition space that invite the viewer to embark upon a sensual, albeit unfamiliar, journey. If Roots had not become an artist, his installations point to an imagination large enough to fill the halls of Disney.

Currently, Roots is Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is noted for his large, site-specific sculptural installations and collaborative public works that are often allegorical and made to be walked through rather than around, including the installation "So You Think You Would Do It Differently Next Time" and recent public commissions at the Memphis / Shelby County Public Library (in collaboration with Brad and Diana Goldberg), the Miami International Airport North Terminal, the Dallas Convention Center and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Roots has exhibited his work nationally and internationally since the 1980's, including projects in China, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Peru and Russia and is the recipient of three NEA individual artist grants. In 1992, Roots along with artist William Maxwell, founded FUSE Exhibitions, an experimental exhibition space in Boulder, CO. He is a founding member of the ARTNAUTS, an organization dedicated to promoting a visual dialogue between first and third world artists. Roots is the author of Designing the World's Greatest PUBLIC ART, (Images, 2002) one of the few survey books on the subject of public art.

During the spring semester of 2004 the UW-Madison Arts Institute welcomes Garrison Roots as an Interdisciplinary Artist in Residence, his residency sponsored by the Department of Art and the School of Landscape Architecture. During his residency Roots will teach a seminar on the subject of public art and host a symposium entitled "Madison Project: Challenging the Public Art Paradigm." Comprised of a series of panel discussions and public addresses about art in the public sphere, the symposium is co-sponsored by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (formerly the Madison Art Center) and the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission.