MELINDA KIEFER SANTIAGO
EDUCATION
2021 Advanced Certificate in Art Education, K-12 Teaching Certification, Hofstra University
2017 MFA, Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, NY, cum laude
2011 BS in Art, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, cum laude
2010 Studio Art Centers International, study abroad program, Florence, Italy
AWARDS/GRANTS
2022 Flux Factory, Governors Island, NY, Best Costume Ensemble, Parade of the Species
2021 Hofstra University, Dean’s Scholarship, Departmental Scholarship
2015 – 2017 SUNY Purchase College, Presidential Scholarship, NIAF Filomena C. Peloro Scholarship
2014 Jack Kent Cooke, Graduate Award Finalist
2010 Studio Art Centers International, Florence Italy, Consortium Scholarship, full funding for study abroad
2011 Skidmore College, Jesse Solomon Memorial Award in Painting
2011 Skidmore College, Highest Honors, Thesis Exhibition
2011 Skidmore College, Student Opportunity Funds Grant
2007 – 2011 Skidmore College, Anne Reid Scholarship, Columbus Citizens Foundation Scholarship
2010 Studio Art Centers International, Florence, Italy, Best in Show, Juried Student Exhibition
2009 Skidmore College, Tang Museum Award, Student Exhibition (Juried by Dawn Clements)
2009 Skidmore College, Soave Fair Award, Student Exhibition (Juried by Michael Oatman)
2009 Skidmore College, Tang Museum Party Installation Grant
2008 Skidmore College, Tang Museum Party Installation Grant
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Sunroom Pop Up Gallery, Astoria, NY, When the Sky Fall We Rise to Meet it (DIY co-curated with Chris Santiago)
2020 HiLo, Catskill, NY, There is No Thought without a Phantasm (w/ collaborative partner, Chris Santiago)
2016 Eco Practicum, Labyrinth Talpidae, Permanent Outdoor Installation in Liberty NY (curated by Tal Beery)
2019 Flowers For All Occasions Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Magicicada
2015 Indiginal Gallery, Baltimore, MD, Rebuilt Recollections
2014 Indiginal Gallery, Baltimore, MD, Indiginal Presents (two person with Ram Sueno)
2011 Round Door Pop Up Gallery, Mt Vernon, NY, Please Knock; Please Sit, Please Pray
2009 Case Gallery, Skidmore College, NY, Reconstruction
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, NJ, Of Myth and Men (forthcoming, curated by Christy O’Connor)
2024 Project Farmhouse, New York, NY, Metabolism of Cities & Soils, Urban Soils 9th Symposium, New York, NY
2024 IP3 Mixtape (forthcoming, international postcard show, multiple locations, curated by IP3 Collective)
2024 Flux Factory, Governors Island, NY, Luminaria 2 (curated by Sally Beauti Twin)
2024 SVA Flatiron Gallery, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, Traces: Memory, Nature, & The Body (curated by Rachel Cohen)
2024 Paradice Palase, Brooklyn, NY, Anniversary Salon Show
2024 College of Staten Island Gallery, CUNY, Staten Island, NY, Dream Works (curated by Siona Wilson)
2024 ABC No Rio, New York, NY, Better Red than Dead (curated by Yasmeen Abdallah)
2023 LABspace, Hillsdale, NY, Holiday
2023 Studio 9D, New York, NY, Sloom
2023 ChaShaMa 227 W 29th St, New York, NY, Dream Alliance (co-curated with Chris Santiago)
2023 A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Immigrant Centuries
2023 SEPTEMBER Gallery, Kinderhook, NY, Freaky Flowers
2023 1 West Grand Ave, Chicago, IL, BLINK (curated by David Wong)
2022 Rosekill, Kingston, NY, An/aesthetics (curated by Michael Asbill, Lital Dotan, Marielena Ferrer, Emilie Houssart)
2022 LABspace, Hillsdale, NY, Holiday
2022 SVA Flatiron Gallery, New York, NY, Hot Box (curated by Rachel Cohen)
2022 Flux Factory, Governors Island, NY, Parade of the Species (curated by Sally Beauty)
2021 - 2022 Unison Arts Center, New Paltz, NY, Owning Earth (curated by Tal Beery)
2021 Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY, So Gathering Seems Essential
2021 Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, Alumni Exhibition (online)
2020 LABspace, Hillsdale, NY, Holiday Show
2020 Long Island City Artists, Drawings in a Time of Social Distancing (online)
2020 Gallery Petite, Brooklyn, NY, Osmosis (curated by Tenzin Doma Lama)
2020 Pari Passu Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Semiotic Materialism
2018 7 Belvidere, Brooklyn, NY, Shipping Container (curated by Sally Beauty)
2018 The Living Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Living Gallery 7-Year Anniversary
2018 SEPTEMBER Gallery, Hudson, NY, Recognize You When She Sees You
2017 Art OMI, Ghent NY, Art OMI Staff Show
2017 Richard & Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase NY, MFA Thesis Show
2017 Equity Gallery, New York, NY, Artefactual (curated by Faye Hirsch)
2016 Richard & Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY, Stolen, Lost, Disappeared (curated by Faye Hirsch)
2016 Lyndhurst Mansion, Tarrytown, NY, Lyndhurst Scarecrow Invasion
2015 Richard & Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY, Medium Rare (curated by Faye Hirsch)
2015 Jaam Rek Studio, Seattle, WA, Octavia Butler Tribute (curated by Megan Hyde)
2014 - 2013 Old Man Hustle Space, 3rd Eye Solarized, Purgatory with Pinatas, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Andrea B.)
2013 Schick Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, The Muse at Home,
2012 Louise McCagg Gallery, Barnard College, New York, NY, Enduring Ephemera (curated by Ada Wright Potter)
2012 The Loom Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Hello Earth, (curated by Sophie Grant)
2012 CCP Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Passion (curated by Andrea B.)
2011 Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, Senior Thesis Exhibition
2011 House of Creative Soul Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY, Skidmore Infusion
2011 Lucy Scribner Library, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, Student Art in the Library
2011 Schick Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, Skidmore Student Exhibition
2010 Saratoga ArtsFest, Saratoga Springs, NY, Recyclemania
2010 SACI Student Exhibition, SACI Gallery, Florence, Italy
2010 Schick Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY, Skidmore Student Exhibition
2010 Lucy Scribner Library, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, Student Art in the Library
2010 Mimosa Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY, 10 by 10
2009 Schick Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY, Skidmore Student Exhibition
PERFORMANCES
2024 Foxtrot Farm & Flowers, Stanfordville, NY, Unruly Edges (curated by Charlotte Woolf, Upstate Art Weekend)
2023 Flux Factory, Governors Island, NY, Solstice Species Sashay Parade (curated by Sally Beauty)
2023 Flux Factory, Governors Island, NY, Flaming Creature Crawl Parade (curated by Sally Beauty)
2022 - 2023 Rosekill, Kingston, NY, An/aesthetics (collaboration with Chris Santiago)
2022 Flux Factory, Governors Island, NY, Parade of the Species (curated by Sally Beauty, collaboration with Chris Santiago)
2021 The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY, Haunted Mill (collaboration with Chris Santiago)
2021 Craw Mansion, Wassaic, NY, Dream Alliance Summit (DIY outdoor performance festival, co-curated with Chris Santiago)
2020 The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY, Haunted Parade (collaboration with Chris Santiago as local artists)
2018 - 2020 Dancing Sickness, DIY performances in NYC and Hudson Valley (collaboration with Chris Santiago)
2017 SEPTEMBER Gallery, Hudson, NY, Communion Droplet, Witches Opening Exhibition
2016 Eco Practicum, Liberty, NY, Labyrinth Circling (environmental justice school performance, curated by Tal Beery)
2016 Fields Festival, Baltimore, MD, 'In Watermelon Sugar' (co-directed by Isa Leal and Ren Pepitone)
2015 The Crown, Baltimore, MD, Spring Fever (Iron Rainbow, directed by Isea Leal)
2014 5th Dimension, Baltimore, MD, Everything All the Time (Iron Rainbow, directed by Isa Leal)
2014 Gristle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, EMP Collective, Baltimore, MD, More Like A Monk (Iron Rainbow, directed by Isa Leal)
2014 Soundnest, Artscape, Baltimore, MD (Iron Rainbow, directed by Isa Leal)
RESIDENCIES
2025 Wave Hill, Winter Workspace Residency (fellowship, forthcoming)
2024 AIR Byrdcliffe, Woodstock, NY (Upstate Art Weekend)
2024 USI Residency, Swale House, Governors Island, NY
2023 ChaNorth, Pine Plains, NY (Upstate Art Weekend)
2022 SVA, Painting & Mixed Media, New York, NY
2021 Ox-Bow, Conversations in Practice, full scholarship (online)
2016 Eco Practicum, Liberty, NY, fellowship
CURATION
2024 The Canopy Studio, Little Lightning, New York, NY (‘11 Times’ curatorial project with NYC Crit Club & Andrew Woolbright)
2023 ChaShaMa 227 W 29th St, New York, NY, Dream Alliance (co-curated with Chris Santiago featuring 23 artists)
2021 Craw Mansion, Wassaic, NY, Dream Alliance Summit (DIY performance festival, co-curated with Chris Santiago)
2018 Bohemian Grove, Solstice Show & Performances, Brooklyn, NY, (DIY space, co-curated with Chris Santiago)
PUBLICATIONS/PRESS
2024 “A View from the Easel,” Hyperallergic, (232nd Installment by Lakshmi Rivera Amin)
2023 Anthropology of Consciousness Journal, "Art and Consciousness,"American Anthropology Association,
Wiley Publishing, (Guest Co-Editor with Chris Santiago, Special Issue Fall ’23)
2023 “Heel & Hive,” Ecology Magazine, Edition 1, (curated & published by Lindsay Skedgell)
2023 “Experimentation, Camaraderie at ChaNorth” , The Millerton News (by Deborah Maier)
2023 “Exhibition Review: ‘Freaky Flowers’ at September Gallery in Kinderhook,” Chronogram (by Taliesin Thomas)
2023 “Art On the Streets,” SVA ContinuEd Newsletter Summer 2023
2021 “Who Owns the Earth?” Owning Earth Exhibition Review, Hyperallergic (by Louis Bury)
2021 “Bathtub Grotto,” Owning Earth Catalogue, printed by Unison Arts Center
2021 “How To Unlearn Drawing,” Zine printed by Ox-Bow School of Art Residency
2016 “Announcing Eco Practicum’s 2016 Artist in Residence,” Eco Practicum (by Tal Beery)
2016 “Lunch,” MoMA PS1 Staff Zine, printed Artbook, MoMA PS1, NY
2012 “Oankali,” print publication (curated by Megan Hyde)
VISITING ARTIST/LECTURES/PANELS
2024 University of Louisville, Hite Institute of Art & Design, Louisville, KY, (forthcoming) artist talk and studio visits
2024 University of Albuquerque, Albuquerque, NM artist talk and studio visits
2024 The New School, Parsons School of Design, Textiles (guest critic)
2023 Spence School, Manhattan, NY, artist talk and painting demo
2022 Make It, Mend It Skill Swap Series, Brooklyn, NY, Collage, Community & Creative Spaces, talk and collage workshop
2022 Anthropology of Consciousness, interdisciplinary online slides lecture
2022 The Painted Cloud, Brooklyn, NY, artist talk and collage workshop
2021 University of Oklahoma, College of Education, Arts Integration, OK, online slides lecture
2020 Unison Arts Center, New Paltz, NY, On Roots and Rooting – Owning Earth Artist Panel, online
2017 Purchase College, CUE Art Foundation, Manhattan, NY, Pecha Kucha presentation
RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Loyola School NYC, 2022 – Present, Manhattan, NY, Director of Visual Art
BRIC Arts Media, 2019 – 2021, Remote & Brooklyn, NY, Teaching Artist
The Painted Cloud, 2019 – 2020, Brooklyn, NY, Teaching Artist
Paula Hayes Studio, 2010 – 2017, New York, NY, Studio Assistant
Art OMI, 2017, Ghent, NY, Teaching Artist
SEPTEMBER Gallery, 2017, Hudson, NY, Yoga Instructor
Purchase College, SUNY, 2015-2017, Adjunct Drawing Professor, Graduate Teaching Assistant – Painting, Art Theory
MoMA Ps1, 2011-2013, Queens, NY, Visitor Services Associate
Tang Museum, 2009-2011 Skidmore College, NY, Gallery Attendant