CV & Bio


Bio (as of May 2023)

Jayme McLellan is an artist, curator, educator, and writer. She began her career in the arts by exhibiting her work, and the work of friends, at venues in Washington, DC. Soon, she was hired at DC Arts Center as a fundraiser where she realized her first curatorial projects including the Tandem Project, a residency and exchange for artists from the countries of the former Yugoslavia after the war in the Balkans. As an outgrowth of this project to connect and support artists, in 2002, McLellan co-founded Transformer as a non-profit arts organization designed to support emerging artists through professional exhibitions and workshops, mentoring, and peer-networking locally and internationally. 

In 2006, McLellan evolved her artist support strategies in founding Civilian Art Projects, a commercial gallery that has supported hundreds of artists in over 120 exhibitions, talks, events, and other public programs. She is also the project manager and co-curator for the ongoing HARD ART DC 1979 project, a book (Akashic Books, Ltd.) and traveling exhibition about the early DC punk scene depicted in photographs by celebrated war photographer Lucian Perkins, with writing by Alec MacKaye and Henry Rollins.

As an educator, she has led courses on curatorial practice, art history, and professional practices for visual artists in multiple colleges and universities. She is currently adjunct professor at George Mason University. Passionately believing in supporting arts ecosystems, from 2012 to 2014 she led a community effort to save the Corcoran Gallery and college of art, where she began her teaching career, from dissolution.

She received her undergraduate degree from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 1994. She earned her graduate degree in museum studies from Harvard University Extension School in 2021, focusing on climate justice and inclusive art programs. After living in DC for most of her life, she lives on the eastern shore of Maryland where she is organizing her photography and writing archive, teaching, curating exhibitions, and making art. 

Curriculum Vitae (as of May 2023)

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


Professional Experience

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

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

Adjunct Professor, George Mason University, 2022 to Now

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.


As an Artist


Solo Exhibitions

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


Group Exhibitions

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.


As a Curator

Scavenger Deities: Adventures in Museum Waste at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Sept 1 – October 22, 2023. A year-long partnership with artist Rachel Schmidt on value, sustainability, loss and healing through creating contemporary art from waste. 

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

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.