Melissa Leandro (b. 1989, USA) is an artist who works between the media of drawing, painting, and textiles. Leandro's woven and embroidered surfaces explore her composite cultural identity through means of intuitive mark-making. Reflecting on her past and present travels, she considers the impact of these environments on the fragmentation of identity and place.

Leandro was awarded the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship (2017) for her studio work at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She was awarded the Luminarts Fellowship (2017) from the Luminarts Cultural Foundation of Chicago. Leandro was a BOLT resident at the Chicago Artist Coalition for 2017-18, and was named one of Chicago's Break Out Artists of the year for 2018. Her studio work is featured in LUXE, Luxe Interiors + Design Magazine as part of their Chicago Style Maker edition (June 2018). She is currently represented by Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Leandro has attended several residencies within and outside of the USA, including Ragdale Artist Residency, Cristal Lake, Roger Brown House Residency, Michigan, TextielLab, Tilburg The Netherlands, the Jacquard Center, North Carolina. She holds an MFA from SAIC and is currently teaching at SAIC as Lecturer in the Fiber Material Studies department. 

Image: Aqua Melt (detail), 2018 Dimensions: 48.50 x 36", Medium: Jacquard woven cloth, dye, foil, linen, stitching

(updated 2019)