A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.
Melissa has long wavy hair and stands in front of a wall of textiles.

On This Page

Melissa Leandro

Lecturer

Contact

Bio

MELISSA LEANDRO (American, b.1989) lives and works in Chicago, IL. 

Awards: Leandro was awarded the Artadia Award (2021), the Craft Fellowship Grant, from the Illinois Arts Council (2020), the Wingate Artist Fellowship from Vermont Studio Center Residency (2021). 

Exhibitions: She has had recent solo exhibitions at The University Club of Chicago (Chicago, IL), Union League Club of Chicago (Chicago, IL), Rockford University (Rockford, IL) and the Wright Museum of Art (Beloit, WI), ANDREW RAFACZ Gallery (Chicago, IL), and Frieze Art Fair NYC (2020+2021), Intersect Palm Springs (2023), Expo Chicago (2023). Recent group exhibitions include NADA Fair (Miami,FL), DePaul Art Museum (Chicago, IL) and The Lubeznik Center for the Arts (Michigan City, IN). She has participated in residencies, including The Vermont Studio Center, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, The Ragdale Foundation, Crosstown Arts, The Textiel Lab, BOLT- Chicago Artists Coalition. 

Education: MFA (2017) and a BFA (2012) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is presently at the Art Institute as a Lecturer. Leandro is represented by Andrew Rafacz Gallery in Chicago. Her work is included in numerous public and private collections.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This course introduces students to a diverse range of textile materials, processes, histories, politics, traditions, and cultures of fiber and their relationships to contemporary art practice. Historical and contemporary approaches to process and materials are explored as students are introduced to a variety of fiber techniques in construction and surface application. Taught technique can include printing, tapestry weaving, immersion and resist dyeing, knitting, crochet, felting, coiling, hand embroidery, machine sewing, piecework, and embellishment. Textiles have rich and complex histories in all cultures. Examples from across time and place will be explored and discussed through visual presentations, assigned readings, in-class discussions, visiting artist lectures, and field trips.

By the end of this course, students will become familiar with the formal, conceptual, expressive, and political potential of fiber as an expressive medium with limitless possibilities.

Course work will vary but typically includes the creation of technical samples, critique projects, and reading responses.

Class Number

1546

Credits

3

Description

This course introduces students to a diverse range of textile materials, processes, histories, politics, traditions, and cultures of fiber and their relationships to contemporary art practice. Historical and contemporary approaches to process and materials are explored as students are introduced to a variety of fiber techniques in construction and surface application. Taught technique can include printing, tapestry weaving, immersion and resist dyeing, knitting, crochet, felting, coiling, hand embroidery, machine sewing, piecework, and embellishment. Textiles have rich and complex histories in all cultures. Examples from across time and place will be explored and discussed through visual presentations, assigned readings, in-class discussions, visiting artist lectures, and field trips.

By the end of this course, students will become familiar with the formal, conceptual, expressive, and political potential of fiber as an expressive medium with limitless possibilities.

Course work will vary but typically includes the creation of technical samples, critique projects, and reading responses.

Class Number

1559

Credits

3

Description

In Advanced Stitch- Students pursue a strong personal direction while continuing to develop a technical vocabulary and conceptual concerns. Moving across hand stitching and embroidery to using free motion sewing machines, the long arm quilting machines and digital embroidery machines, the class explores themes of gesture, line, speed, slowness, process, and materiality, with an emphasis on surface manipulation and scale. Group critiques encourage individual goals and develop an ongoing dialogue about contemporary issues. Field trips, group discussions, visual presentations, and readings will augment this studio-focused course. Course work will vary but typically includes critique projects, samples, and reading responses.

Class Number

1395

Credits

3