Melinda Laszczynski

Melinda Laszczynski is a Houston-based artist who is concerned with the qualities of unconventional media and the physical characteristics of found and repurposed objects. Laszczynski’s concern with the experience of looking is reflected in the ways she treats objects, such as found lenticular prints. She often imbeds these prints as well as reflective glitter film into her paintings, causing the image to shift as the viewer moves. In this way, her work becomes figurative by referencing the reflection and the distance of the viewer to the painting. Laszczynski fills her studio with found materials such she considers magical. She describes her studio practice as “playful, peaceful, and unapologetically girly.” Nevertheless, Laszczynski remains a formalist at heart and demonstrates a commitment to artistic elements such as line, shape, color, and form.

Born Pittsburgh, PA

EDUCATION
2015 MFA, Painting and Drawing, University of Houston, Houston, TX
2010 BFA, Painting, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Material Study, Wedge Space Arts Lab, Houston, TX

2022 Pressure Cookie, Art League Houston, Houston, TX

2021 Cake Lake Lake Cake, Shed Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2019 The Love Lives of Stones, Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX
2018 Swoon, Front Gallery, Houston, TX
2017 A Hole A Pool A Moon, Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX
2016 Party Tricks, Terminal 136, San Antonio, Houston, TX
Portals and Prophecies, Cardoza Fine Art, Houston, TX
Lady Palace, GalleryHOMELAND, Houston, TX. In conjunction: Tight Sticks, an installation at HomeCORE.
2015 Paintings and Other Delights, Thesis Exhibition, Project Space Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, TX
Everything All At Once, Matchbox Gallery, Rice University, Houston, TX
After Party, Rhizome Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2014 Jam Don't Shake, Settlement Goods & Design, Houston, TX
Always Plus One Day, Fresh Arts, Houston, TX
2011 Formal Seductions, Arts Collinwood, Cleveland, OH

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022 Contemporary Texas Women Artists: Abstraction Here & Now, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX

2022 Texas Emerging: Volume III, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX

2022 Texas Artists, Women of Abstraction, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX, Curated by Deborah Fullerton
2021 Tactile Sublime, Dodomu Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX. curated by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill
2020 Xanax Party: Time to Chill, Private Eye Gallery, Houston TX, curated by Pablo Cardoza
2019 When the Wind Comes Right Behind the Rain, Point of Contact Gallery, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
  Earthly Delights, Arc House, Houston, TX
     This is How I Do This, HCC Central Faculty Exhibition, Houston Community College, Houston, TX
2019 Alumni Exhibition,  The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH. Curated by Courtenay Finn
     No More Tears, Survival Kit Gallery, Cleveland, OH
  You Are Standing On A Prehistoric Ocean, Sandusky Cultural Center, Sandusky, OH
2018 TX Contemporary, Houston, TX, presented by Pablo Cardoza Gallery
  Rendezvous, Goldmark Cultural Center, Dallas, TX. Curated by Meredith Cawley
2017 Families and Feminisms, Kent State University, Stark, OH
     Temporary Havens, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX. Curated by Dean Daderko
     The Reflection in the Sword of Holofernes, Galveston Artist Residency, Galveston, TX. Curated by Sallie Barbee and Eric Schnell
2016 Houston vs. Dallas, Blue Orange Gallery, Houston, TX. Curated by Brandon Zech
     Homelife, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX. Organized by Dana Frankfort and Gael Stack
  Girls Just Wanna, Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX
  Payday Lenders, Cardoza Fine Art, Houston, TX
     Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Williams Tower, Houston, TX, Juror: Brady Roberts
2015 Expectations & Accessibility, Blue Orange Gallery, Houston, TX
  AMoA Biennial 600: Sculpture, Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, TX. Curator: Leigh Arnold
     Here and Now, Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX. Curator: Adrian Zuniga
     37th Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, Houston, TX
  META, Houston City Hall, presented by Love Street, Houston, TX
     30th Annual International Exhibition, Tyler at University of Texas, Meadows Gallery, Tyler, TX, Juror: James R. Pace
     Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art, Williams Tower, Houston, TX, Juror: Dean Sobel
2014 Apply Pressure Here, Project Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, TX
  Connect Five, 4411 Montrose, Houston, TX
     {____ +____}, (____ + ____}, {____ + ____}: A Collage Show, (SCENE) Metrospace, East Lansing, MI Juror: Michelle Word
     Under Construction, SOHO20 Gallery, NY, NY Juror: Sharon Matt Atkins
     One of Us, Barbee Manshun, Houston, TX
  School of Art Student Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, Houston, TX

2013 The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX. Juror: Duncan MacKenzie
     This End Up, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
  School of Art Student Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, Houston, TX
  Disturbance of Distance, Box13 Artspace, Houston, TX. Curator: Kimberly Aubuchon
  U of H Graduate Painting Students Exhibition, College of the Mainland Art Gallery, Texas City, TX
2012 HOWBOUTNOW, 4411 Montrose Galleries, Houston, TX
  Wide Open Spaces, Iris Studio, Little Italy, Cleveland, OH
  In-Turn, Zygote Press, Cleveland, OH. Curator: Meghana Karnik
     Made For Cutting, Forum Gallery, Cleveland, OH. Curator: Michael Abarca
2011 Second Annual Bazaarbeque, Forum Gallery, Cleveland, OH
  Full Service, VAT Coventry Center, Cleveland Heights, OH
     Kunst Eaters: An 18 Night Affair With the City of Berlin, The Reinberger Galleries, Cleveland, OH
2010 Member’s Exhibition, Arts Collinwood, Cleveland, Ohio
     Little Things, BFA Thesis Show, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
     SIE 64, Reinberger Galleries, Cleveland, OH. Jurors: Dario Robelto, Pascual Sisto, Christa Donner
2009 The Way We Live Now, The Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, OH. Curator: Maryam Ohadi

RESIDENCIES
2017 Artist Studio Program, Lawndale Art Center, Houston TX
2016 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2018- Campus Contact, Southeast Campus, Houston Community College, Houston TX
Professor of Visual Arts, Houston Community College, Houston, TX
GCIC (Gulf Coast Intercollegiate Consortium) Representative
2017-18 Instructor, Art, Paris Junior College, Paris, TX
2016-17 Instructor, Art League Houston, Houston, TX
2015-17 Adjunct, Houston Community College, Houston, TX
Summer Instruction Adjunct, Fundamentals of Drawing, University of Houston, Houston, TX

2014 Teaching Fellow, Fundamentals of Painting, University of Houston, Houston, TX
Teaching Fellow, Fundamentals of Printmaking, University of Houston, Houston, TX
2013 Member, Student Leadership Board, Center for Arts Leadership, University of Houston, TX
Teaching Fellow, Fundamentals of Drawing, University of Houston, Houston, TX
2012 Installation Assistant, Franklin Evans: houstontohouston, Diverse Works, Houston, TX
2010-12 Technical Assistant, Painting and Drawing Depts., Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

GUEST LECTURE
2016 Visiting Artist Lecture, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
2013 The Big Slide Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
2010 Populating the Future of University Circle: The Student Body, Panel Discussion hosted by the Women’s Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH. Moderator: Dee Perry
2009 Report from New Orleans: The Painting Department Presents PROSPECT.1, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH

PRESS
2018 http://voyagehouston.com/interview/art-life-melinda-laszczynski/
https://www.artspace.com/magazine/news_events/the_hot_list/8-covetable-artists-to-acquire-at-pulse-55822
2016    New American Paintings, MFA Annual, Juror: Catherine Taft
2014    MAKE8ELIEVE, Party Issue #5: http://www.make8elieve.com/
2013    New American Paintings, No. 111 MFA Annual, Juror: Lisa D. Frieman
       http://www.thegreatgodpanisdead.com/2013/07/betsy-huete-five-pieces-from-big-show.html
2012 Featured artist: http://arthound.com/2012/06/artist-crush
          Featured artist: http://www.booooooom.com/2012/09/11/artist-melinda-laszczynski/

AWARDS
2019 Finalist, Wendy Wagner Foundation Summer 2019 Grant
Let Creativity Happen! Grant, Houston Arts Alliance
2016 Bedichek-Orman Grant for Professional Development, Houston Community College, Houston, TX
2013 Jon Hohlt and Roger Wich Scholarship, University of Houston
Presidential Second Year Scholarship, University of Houston
2012 Susan Vaughn Scholarship, University of Houston
Presidential First Year Scholarship, University of Houston
2010 Student Leadership Award, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
Top 20 Finalist, The President’s Traveling Scholarship, Cleveland Institute of Art

Melinda Laszczynski

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