CV & Bio


Bio

Jayme McLellan is a curator, gallery director, artist, and educator. Over two decades, she has curated 150 solo, group and thematic exhibitions of contemporary artists while teaching and making art. She currently leads courses on professional practices for visual artists at George Mason University and serves as Acting Director of the Salisbury University Art Galleries. Her art practice includes photography, video, and writing about the natural world, identity, family ties, and energy. She is currently organizing her photographic archive of over thirty years of work. Curatorial highlights include founding the DC-based Civilian Art Projects (2006-2022) that supported hundreds of artists in exhibitions and public programs. HARD ART DC is an on-going project where she serves as manager and curator. It is a book and international traveling exhibition about the early DC punk scene depicted in photographs by Lucian Perkins, with writing by Alec MacKaye and Henry Rollins. From 2012 to 2014 she led the effort to save the Corcoran Gallery and College of Art from dissolution. Her first major art project was The Tandem Project, for artists from the former Yugoslavia, which led to co-founding Transformer (DC) as an organization that supports emerging artists through local, national, and international projects and exhibitions. She received her undergraduate degree from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and earned her graduate degree in museum studies from Harvard University Extension School.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

Bachelor of Arts in English: St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 1994

Master of Liberal Arts in Museum Studies: Harvard University Extension School, Cambridge, MA, May 2021

Capstone: We Are In This Together: Museums, Climate Justice, and Inclusive Art Programs


Select Professional Experience

Acting Director, Salisbury University Art Galleries, June 2024 to the present

Director and Founder, Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC, 2006 to 2022

Co-Founder and Co-Director, Transformer, Washington, DC, 2002-2006

Adjunct Professor, George Mason University, 2022 to the present

Previous teaching experience: Georgetown University, 2016 to 2021; Corcoran College of Art + Design, 2008 – 2016; Maryland Institute College of Art, 2013 – 2015; St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 2010, 2014; and American University.


Group exhibitions containing my artwork:

Carte Blanche: Awakening, June 23-August 1, 2025, Adah Rose Gallery

Collector’s Night, Washington Project for the Arts, April 2023

The Eye of Faith Flanagan, Studio 1469, Washington, DC, June – July 2017

Faculty Show, Corcoran Gallery of Art, May 2014, Curated by Bobby Yi

FOREVER: The Corcoran 30th Annual Print Portfolio at Carroll Square Gallery, Washington, DC, May 8 – August 31, 2015

Transformer Auction, Katzen Art Center at American University, November 2014

Faculty Show, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, June – July 2014

Transformer Auction, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, November 2013

Now: Here: This:, Studio Gallery 88, New York, NY, May 2005

Hot Damn!, Curated by Faith Flanagan, Washington, DC, September 2004

Virtual Communidad, online art submissions, all of 2004

Now: Here: This: participant in a group time and web based project and exhibition organized by Artists Unite, a North Manhattan nonprofit organization. Now: Here: This will unite thirty artists working internationally to explore ideas of community in an age of instantaneous communication and free collaboration across boundaries. Web based project: January – April 2004, Exhibition: June 2004

Conspiracy of Vitrines, an exhibition of contemporary photography by Mary Cahill, Lisa Garfield, Mica Scalin and Jayme McLellan, Artspace, Richmond VA, July 4-28, 2003

Exercise 4: Jump in the Fire, an exhibition on nine Washington artists working in a variety of media, I Street Studios, Washington DC, March 2002. Musically performances by Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Et At It.

The Good News, 57 N Fine Arts, Washington DC, December 1-January 24, 2001

Dream Life, photo installation on collective memory, La Casa Community Center, Washington DC, curated by Victoria Reis, October 2001. Musical performance by Lida Husik.

The Zipper, exhibition featuring Lisa Garfield, Mary Cahill and Jayme McLellan (Heavy Metal Bedroom) at Decatur Blue Art Space, curated by Decatur Blue, Washington DC, June 6-July 14, 2001

Black Lite Art Show, 629 E Street, Washington DC, July 2001

Senior Exhibition, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City, Maryland, May 1995.

Solo exhibitions of my artwork

Pleasing Nature, The Heurich Gallery, Washington, DC, June – September 2014 

Jealousy of Clouds, Heiner Contemporary, Washington, DC, June – August 2013

Heavy Metal Bedroom, Decatur Blue Art Space, curated by Decatur Blue, Washington DC, June - July 2001

Washington in Black and White, U.S. Botanic Garden Conservatory, Washington DC, February - March, 1996


Select Curatorial Projects

August 26 - Oct 26, 2024. Muriel Hasbun: With the Pulse of a Community / Con el pulso de una comunidad. A multimedia exhibition of several projects—including photographs, video, shared archives, and sculptural installations—representing over 35 years of personal and cultural investigation by the artist toward processing ideas of home, exile, the traumas of war, and the endurance of identity and memory.  Largely based on archives and memories of El Salvador during the Civil War, Hasbun’s work coalesces rediscovered personal and community artifacts into transient works of reconciliation where universal truths about war, death, and legacy are rendered into new work marking the presence and continuum of a rich cultural diaspora. An artist and educator, Hasbun recovers historical information, often lost or hidden, and activates the space across borders, generations, and cultural divides; enacting culturally responsive and equitable sites of dialogue, healing, learning, and creativity, with a special focus on generating knowledge about Central American art and culture.Salisbury University Art Galleries.

January 31 - March 29, 2025. Johab Silva: Electric Liquid. Silva's research uses new media to respond to urban development issues. Silva explores the enduring power of water—its power to shape and reshape our lives, its commodification as a utility and dumping ground, and its increasing scarcity. Through large-scale projection mapping, neo-noir lighting, virtual reality, sculptural installations, and traditional painting, Silva constructs a futuristic, synthetic world that sheds light on this complex issue from multiple perspectives. Salisbury University Art Galleries.

January 24 - March 29, 2025. Climate Stories featured artists Lynn Cazabon, Leigh Davis, Sondra Arkin & Ellyn Weiss (The Human Flood), and Lionel Frazier White III. In partnership with the Environmental Studies Department to demonstrate the necessity of interdisciplinary partnerships in addressing climate change, offering a broader collaborative lens for our collective wicked problem.  By combining environmental and scientific insights with artistic expression, collaborations like this can engage communities more effectively and more widely. The exhibition’s programming included Wicomico River Stories with Gina Bloodworth and Shane Hall and an artist talk with the exhibiting artists, moderated by gallery student worker and Environmental Studies major Ruby Muzanila. Salisbury University Art Galleries.

Sept 1 – October 22, 2023. Scavenger Deities, A year-long partnership and exhibition with artist Rachel Schmidt and Rich O’Meara on value, sustainability, the loss of her art partner, Kevin O’Meara, and healing through repurposing museum waste into works of art. and reinterpreting the sound recordings of Kevin by his father. Visual Art Center of Richmond.

HARD ART DC 1979. An exhibition and published book (Akashic Books) about the birth and community of the DC punk movement through the photography of two-time Pulitzer prize winner Lucian Perkins. Essay by Henry Rollins, writing by Alec MacKaye. Co-Curator: Lely Constantinople.

Exhibitions include:

  • Summerhall Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2024

  • Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin, Germany, with the film Punk the Capital, 2022

  • Lost Origins Gallery, Washington, DC

  • agnes b. headquarters gallery, Paris, France, 2015

  • Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC, 2014

  • Good Children Gallery, New Orleans, LA, 2012

  • Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC, 2011

Frank DiPerna: Retrospective (January 27 – March 11, 2018). American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC (catalog essay with Andy Grundberg). 

Living On The Land, Vol. 1 (June 1 – August 5, 2017), Salisbury University and Living On The Land, Vol. 2 (September 6 – November 12, 2017), St. Mary’s College of Maryland. An exhibition about relationships to the land during climate change featuring local contemporary artists.

DARFUR/DARFUR (2006-2008), A traveling exhibit of digitally-projected images on the multi-cultural region while exposing the ongoing humanitarian crisis as told through the lens of photojournalists and one marine. The exhibit toured 24 countries in 27 months and was projected on the façade of museums. Served as Assistant Curator for the exhibition at the below venues as well as fundraiser and manager: 

  • Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada (March 2008)

  • City Museum, Ljubljana, Slovenia (February 2008)

Collective Archive (March 4 – April 30, 2012), School 33 Art Center, Baltimore, MD

Noelle K. Tan, (June 2011), Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL. Curated the photography exhibition of this noted Filipino-American artist.

Frontier Preachers: Artists from New Orleans (June 6 – July 26, 2009), Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN

Tandem: Passages (June 9 – July 14, 2000), DC Arts Center & Signal 66 in Washington, DC. An exhibition and residency for artists from the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Curatorial research took place in the region in 1999 thanks to a generous grant from the Trust for Mutual Understanding to bring five artists to Washington. With curator Katherine Carl.  

Published Writing

Ober, Cara; Bmore Art, Dreamy Headspace After Creative Burnout: Visual Diary by Jayme McLellan

All My Children Sleep in the Sea by Rachel Schmidt and sound artist om.era.kev (Kevin O’Meara), a site-specific installation containing the works Drowning, Trash Cairn, Breach, Out of Balance, and All My Children Sleep in the Sea, depicting symbolic landscapes and delicate ecosystems amid the physical presence of waste, 2019 (essay).

Frank DiPerna  Retrospective, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC, 2018 (essay)

Monica Jahan Bose, “Rising Up to Climate Change: Storytelling with Saris,” Civilian Art Projects, March 2018, Washington, DC (essay)

Louden, Sharon, ed., “Living & Sustaining a Creative Life: Artist as Culture Producer,” Intellect Books, Distributed by University of Chicago Press, 2017 (essay)

Perkins, Lucian, “HARD ART DC 1979,” “DC Spaces,” Akashic Books, 2012 & 2021 (essay)

Sakamoto, Carla, ed.,“For Which It Stands: Americana in Contemporary Art” Farameh; First edition, 2012 (overview on artist Dan Tague)

 

Select Grants, Fellowships, Awards

2023 Maryland State Arts Council Artist Grant

2019-2021 Harvard Extension School student partial tuition scholarship

2015-2016 Dorothy Liskey Wampler Professorship of Art Fellowship at James Madison University

2015 Sister Cities grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for the Hard Art DC in Paris

2014 Scholarship, World of Art public program, prepared by the SCCA–Ljubljana and the Igor Zabel Association for Culture and Theory and supported by: U.S. Embassy Ljubljana, the City of Ljubljana – Department for Culture and ERSTE Foundation

2008 - $1.5 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for programs benefiting women and girls, Women & Philanthropy

2007 - $200,000 grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts for Transformer’s sustainability and programs

 

 Select Presentations and Lectures

Professional Practices for the Visual Artist, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, October 2022

Art, War, Photography, Native Hostel, Austin, TX with Lucian Perkins, Lely Constantinople and LouLou Ghelichkhani, June 2022

The Art of Frank DiPerna, Revolve, Asheville, NC with Bernard Welt, October 2020

Professional Practices for the Visual Artist, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD, May 2018

Professional Practices for the Visual Artist, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, October 2017

The Dissolution of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Creative Time Summit, Corcoran School of the Arts at George Washington University, Washington, DC, 2016

How to Make a Museum Disappear, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, November 2015

Professional Practices for the Visual Artist, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, November 2015

The Dissolution of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, January 2015

Arts Ecosystem: Washington, DC. Slovenia Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 2014.

HARD ART DC 1979, Curator Discussion with Lely Constantinople, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, June 2014

Artist Survival Skills, Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, November 2014


Courses Created

Fall/Spring - 2008 – 2015 - Professional Practices for Visual Artists – Corcoran College of Art & Design, Washington,

DC

Spring, 2010 – Curatorial Theory and Practice, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City, MD

Spring 2012 – Curatorial Studies – Corcoran College of Art & Design, Exhibition Design Master’s program

Design

Summer 2013, 2014 – Professional Development, Maryland Institute College of Art, MFAST Program, Baltimore, MD

Fall 2013 - Professional Practices for Visual Artists – American University, MFA Program, Washington, DC

Spring 2014 – History of Art Spaces & Galleries, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City, MD

Spring 2015 – Seminar for Curatorial Practice, Maryland Institute College of Art, Curatorial Practice MFA program, Baltimore, MD

 

Organizations Created

2002 – Transformer, Washington, DC – www.transformerdc.org - founded a non-profit, artist centered arts

organization in Washington DC. Quickly awarded over $200,000 from The Warhol Foundation.

2006 – Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC – www.civilianartprojects.com - a commercial gallery representing

contemporary artists.

2012 – Save the Corcoran, www.savethecorcoran.org, a non-profit organization created to advocate for saving D.C.’s oldest museum.

 

Lecturer, Panelist, Guest Speaker, or Juror

-        Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC

-        Maryland State Arts Council

-        DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities

-        Corcoran Gallery of Art & College of Art & Design, Washington, DC

-        Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL

-        City Museum, Ljublijana, Slovenia

-        St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City, Maryland

-        Emerging Arts Leaders of Washington, DC

-        ArtTable, Washington, DC

-        Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

-        Artisphere Art Center, Arlington, VA

-        Provisions Library at George Mason University

-        George Washington University, Washington, DC

-        George Mason University

-        Gettysburg College

-        Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

-        Washington Sculptor’s Group, Washington, DC

-        School 33 Art Center, Baltimore, MD

-        McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA

-        VisArts/Kennedy Center, Washington, DC

-        FotoDC, Washington, DC

-        DC Arts Center, Washington, DC

-        Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada

-        Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA

-        Embassy of Spain

Selected Press (Click Title to go to article)

Akashic Books, Jayme McLellan: On Hard Art, DC 1979

Bass, Holly; Washington City Paper,Think Globally, Act Locally

Capps, Kriston; Washington City Paper, Dynamic Field

Jenkins, Mark; The Washington Post, In the galleries: Finding inspiration in a mythical herb

Jenkins, Mark; The Washington Post, Gallery shows from Jayme McLellan, Sam Scharf, Artisphere, Stephanie Williams, Rofi

Kennedy, Randy; The New York Times, Suit Seeks to Block Corcoran Takeover

Knight, Christopher; The LA Times, Claims of retaliation for faculty dissent at Corcoran Gallery of Art

Legetic, Svetlana, Brightest Young Things, Artist As Culture Producer: Jayme McLellan of Civilian Art Projects

Lespak, Sasha; World of Art, Jayme McLellan: Različni modeli delovanja v umetnostnem sistemu v ZDA (Washington)

Miller, Shauna; The Washington Post, Bad Brains, Good Times

Ramanathan, Lavanya; The Washington Post, Art Of the People, Coming Into View

Setzer, Corianne Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, Jayme McLellan, founder of “Save the Corcoran” campaign

Thrupkey, Noy; The American Prospect, “Disarming Photos”

More press, information, and archives at www.civilianartprojects.com and at www.savethecorcoran.org.