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    • The Galleries
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    • Creative Healing Helps

The Elephantworks Studio

The Elephantworks StudioThe Elephantworks StudioThe Elephantworks Studio
  • Home
  • The Galleries
  • Fat Chicks Running!
  • Teachers and Students
  • Creative Healing Helps
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The Elephantworks Studio Melissa Leaym-Fernandez

The Elephantworks Studio Melissa Leaym-FernandezThe Elephantworks Studio Melissa Leaym-FernandezThe Elephantworks Studio Melissa Leaym-Fernandez

See the various portfolios

Portfolio

A Studio Glimpse

About Me

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Melissa J. Leaym-Fernandez

When I was a child, my favorite time of day was when I was allowed to draw and paint. As I got older, this love never faded and eventually I went to college to study art. Currently, I am working on my doctoral degree in art education and women's, gender and sexuality studies at Penn State University. But as a Sri Lankan-American, a brown woman, one who was sexually assaulted at age 11, raised in poverty in a single parent home, getting here was quite a challenge.

But with the help of a wonderful, strong woman as my mother, and other incredible people who have loved, supported and encouraged-- I am victim-survivor-thriver. What I have realized in my years of making art, researching, consulting and teaching- is that I am not alone--you are not alone. I am not alone in my experiences, nor in my passion to overcome, protect children, promote inclusion in professional practices of the globe.works make


Working as a painter and teaching artist in marginalized communities around the globe before coming to Penn State, I have always been interested in artmaking as a method to share the counterstorytelling of our lives. My professional art works make connections between the role of women specifically single parenthood enacted by mothers and grandmothers in marginalized communities, to the lived experiences of elephants on the wild, the matriarch and the aunties that nurture, protect, lead, and raise within various herds. My work is in personal and corporate collections  gobally and I have shown in museum, corporate, and gallery spaces. I am currently in the  doctoral programs of Art Education and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Pennsylvania State Univiersity,  University Park Campus, USA. 


My research focuses on the making processes of women of color who have experienced trauma and endured institutional or social oppressions.The desire is to see how the similarities found in the various creative practices of these women can be used to help folks out within a creative or artistic setting deal with their own trauma by making and creative enactments. 


Additionally, I research representations of women and gender roles as suppresional to socially reiforced normative expectations of behavior, dress, and emotional representations within Korean, Chinese, and US tv shows that reinforce social norms.


After women get through all the emotional content of trauma, we need to remember, what we have to offer this world has value, and the creative practices we experience can change lives be it through the visual arts, music, film or small screen.



Credentials: 

Currently a Doctoral Student in Art Education at Penn State University

Master's of Art--University of Michigan in Arts Administration, 2012

Master's of Art--Eastern Michigan University, 1999

Bachelor of Science--University of Michigan-Flint, 1997

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting--University of Michigan-Flint, 1994

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My Medium(s)

As a teaching artist and educator I use many different mediums, such as clay, acrylics, welding, sewing, oils and pastels. I believe that working in a single medium is restrictive to my artistic processes and success. Each idea manifests in its own individual style and medium, currently watercolor is Queen!


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My Inspiration

I really think my inspiration comes from love; learning how to lift others, understanding people, understanding our connections to each other, the earth and  animal--it all comes down to love. If we care, we change, if we change, we influence the lives of others.

Awards

The Judy Chicago Art Education Award

National Endowment for the Humanitites

The Judy Chicago Art Education Award

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Recipient of the 2018 Judy Chicago Art Education Award. This award is given for excellence in art educational encounters that promote use of the Judy Chicago art Education Collection at Penn State as inspiration.

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The Dreaming Zebra Foundation Grant

National Endowment for the Humanitites

The Judy Chicago Art Education Award

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Support, for which I will always remain so grateful for, allowed me to bring incredible creative experiences to my students in Flint, Michigan, who were expected to make art with trash, 30 year old supplies and ill equipped studio spaces. Dreaming Zebra made making art, dealing with feelings, anger, overall communal oppression for students an incredible experience. THANK YOU!

National Endowment for the Humanitites

National Endowment for the Humanitites

National Endowment for the Humanitites

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A grant from the NEH allowed me to get more contextual information for teaching about the contributions of artists of color in the United States. I was awarded a position to participate in the "Crafting Freedom" Landmark  Workshop to immersively learn about artisans, craftsmen and artists that were free, enslaved and formerly enslaved African Americans during the Civil War Era.

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Professional Development as an Artist

National Endowment for the Humanitites

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I was awarded funds to attend "Remaking Monsters and Heroines:  Adapting Classic Literature for a contemporary Audience "which included A two-week institute for thirty-six schoolteachers on Frankenstein, Cinderella, and the adaptations of these classic texts.

at the University of Arkansas in  2018.

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Professional Development as an Artist

Professional Development as an Artist

Professional Development as an Artist

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Through re-granting programs and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, I received funding to develop as a professional artist. The development activities have allowed me further show my art, share what I have learned with other arts professionals and has supported the increase showing of my own artworks.

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Professional Development as an Artist

Professional Development as an Artist

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Through support of the HURON ECONOMIC COUNCIL and  MCACA I have been awarded grants to further my professional development as an artist, arts educator, and activist for women and girls within the visual arts settings where I work.

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Social

Service projects in the USA and INDIA

Services offered:

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Consultation

Teaching Artist

Consultation

  • Assistance in program evaluation 
  • Assistance with program development
  • Assistance with Curriculum Development
  • Management of programs
  • Professional Development

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Commissions

Teaching Artist

Consultation

  • Corporate and large scale commissions
  • oils, watercolor, and a plethora of medium
  • Space and budget specific
  • Personal commissions for small and large budgets


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Teaching Artist

Teaching Artist

Teaching Artist

  • Design and implementation of programming
  • Teaching children and Adults
  • Short term projects (1 day) to longer term projects (months)
  • Teaching a Participatory Art Pedagogy influenced by Black feminist thought

Contact the Artist

Drop us a line!

The Elephantworks Studio

Fort Gratiot, MI and State College PA

(810) 300-3456

The Elephantworks Studio

(810) 300-3456

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