Melanie McClintock (biography)

Melanie McClintock (biography)

Melanie McClintock

Chair and Associate Professor, Color and Materials Design Graduate Program

MFA College for Creative Studies (Color and Materials Design);
BFA Virginia Commonwealth University (Fashion Design)

(2023) LOCAL MARKERS: Material Narratives Through Place-Based Design Research;
(2022) Ruderal Material Project

Melanie is a multi-disciplinary designer, artist, and educator. Before joining the College of Creative Studies, she spent two decades working in the fashion industry and academia in New York, San Francisco, Qatar, and Indonesia. During this time, she piloted her signature collection and brick-and-mortar shop in Brooklyn, NY; taught fashion design at VCUQatar in Doha, Qatar; and spearheaded a two-year, cross-cultural vocational program in Java, Indonesia to promote innovation in textiles and ceramics. Her recent exhibition, Color Lab, focused on the materiality of color to create interactive landscapes through point-of-origin pigments. She is a partner in the international collective PiCoDe that is researching best practices in preparing students for the industry through place-based product design. Melanie’s research interests include objects and experiences with a sense of place, the materiality of color, the found object as art (seeing), interactive environments, creative archiving, making as research, re-imagining waste materials, design systems and processes, modularity in footwear, adaptive design for climate change, and trend futures.

Publications
(2023) LOCAL MARKERS: Material Narratives Through Place-Based Design Research, in M. Miaskowska, J. Aston, M. Varzim (Eds.), COLLECTIVE FOR DESIGN. An active teaching and learning methodology for collaborative art and design disciplines within the framework of sustainable development;
(2022, Nov 2-4) Ruderal Material Project, Design Research, Cumulus Conference, Detroit, MI

Presentations
(2021, Oct 14-15) PiCoDe: Project, Product, Promotion: International Collective for Design, Program Partner (with J. Aston, B. Kinam, M. Miaskowska, M. Varzim), Workshop 01, Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland;
(2021, Sept 13) Curriculum Spotlight on Sustainability, Faculty Guest Speaker, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI;
(2019, March 25-29) Half/Finished: Embracing Failure as a Means of Innovation Through Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration Workshop, Instructor, Escuela Superio de Diseno de la Rioja (ESDIR), Logrono, Spain;
(2015) Commercializing Creativity in Fashion Design, Guest Speaker, Heya Arabian Fashion Exhibition, Doha, Qatar;
(2013) Indoartamiks: Innovation in Traditional Indonesian Craft, Guest Speaker, Tasmeem Design Conference, Doha, Qatar

Exhibitions
(2020, Mar 11-Apr 11) Color Lab, Curator and Exhibiting Artist, VCUarts Gallery, Doha, Qatar;
(2019) Worn: 100 Days of Shoe Deconstruction, Exhibiting Artist, Valade Gallery, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI;
(2017) Color and Materials Design, Exhibiting Designer, Lear Innovation Center, Detroit, MI;
(2017) Transportation Design, Exhibiting Color & Materials Designer, Valade Gallery, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI;
(2016) Issue Is Me: Vendy Methodos and Ismu Ismoyo, Curator, VCUQatar Gallery, Doha, Qatar;
(2014) Lucu Lucu, Exhibiting Artist, Via Via Gallery, Jogjakarta, Indonesia