Represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland, Oregon since 2004
Education:
PhD Candidate . UNSW . Sydney, Australia . 2019 – 2023
MA in Environmental Arts and Humanities . Oregon State University . 2018
MFA in Electronic Integrated Art . Alfred University . Alfred, NY . 2007
BA in Photography . University of Oregon . 1997
Awards and artist residency fellowships:
VIVEVERSE Creators Program . 2025
Internet Archives Honorable Mention for Metropolis remix: The Garden . 2023
UNSW . Full scholarship . 2019 – 2023
AIR Niederösterreich Residency . Krems, Austria . 2019
First Prize in VR Design Styly Contest . Portland VR Meet-Up . 2018
Playa Residency . Eastern Oregon Desert . 2017
Djerassi Residency . Northern California Mountains . 2017
Ford Family Foundation Grant . 2017
Visiting Scholar Grant from OSU Library Archives . 2015
Regional Arts & Culture Council . Project Grant . Portland, Oregon . 2010
Gaestatelier Krone Residency . Aarau, Switzerland . 2009
Oregon Arts Commission . Career Development Grant . 2008
Institute for Electronic Arts Residency . NYSCC . Alfred, NY . 2008
Cite Internationale des Arts Residency . Paris, France . 2007
Est-Nord-Est Residency . Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec . 2007
The Gil-Society Residency . Akureyri, Iceland . 2007
Mayor’s Creative/Cultural Economic Initiative Grant . 2005
Caldera Residency . Eastern Oregon Mountains . 2004
Oregon Arts Commission . Individual Artist Fellowship . 2002
Juror’s Award . Oregon Biennial . Portland Art Museum . 2001
Solo shows and installation:
Are You Animal – Vegetable – or Mineral . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . 2020
Open Book Gallery . created during artist residence at AIR Niederösterreich, and with the support of David Komary at Galerie Stadtpark . Krems, Austria . 2019
The Raven Speaks to the Assembled Animals . OSU East Greenhouses . 2018
Everything is Water . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . 2015
Looking Glass Book . University of the South, Carlos Gallery . Sewanee, Tennessee . curated by Greg Pond . 2011
So Close to the Glass and Shivering . Marylhurst University Art Gym . curated by Terri Hopkins . 2010
Letters from Switzerland . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . Portland . 2010
Bird Song Chandelier . Nines Hotel . 2009
Alexandria, I’m Waiting . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . Portland . 2008
useless, incorruptible, secret . Caseworks . Reed College Library . curated by Stephanie Snyder . 2008
the weight of a tiny bird . MFA thesis show . The Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art . Alfred, NY . 2007
Torch Song . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . Portland, Oregon . 2004
six of one, a half-dozen of the other . Nine Gallery at Blue Sky . Portland . 2004
Pressed . Fugitive Art Center . Nashville, Tennessee . 2002
Car Crash Chandelier . PDX Gallery . Window Project . 2002
Wallpaper . Reading Frenzy . curated by Chloe Eudaly . Portland . 1998
Group shows:
Telephone Game . international interconnected online art show . 2025
/spatial . curated by Bay Backner and Damir First . 2024
Midnight Arboretum curated by Dina Chang . 2024
Mesh Fair . Virtual exhibit in Decentraland . curated by Bay Backner . 2023
mowna OUTRAGEOUS! . curated by cari ann shim sham and joey zaza . 2023
4 screens pop-up art exhibition at despace.berlin . curated by Michelle Brown . 2022
Halo Gallery virtual exhibit . Here & Now 1/1 Tezos events . curated by Dina Chang . 2022
Ticket to the Moon . Kunsthalle Krems . Austria . 2019
Turtle Exhibit at Cite de Arts with Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre . Paris . 2019
Convergence: Process and Identity . Reynolds Gallery . Corvallis . curated by Paris Meyers . 2018
Converge45 . River Report: ships make promises . Centennial Mills . exhibited in conjunction with Ann Hamilton : habitus . 2018
Assemblage and Collage . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . 2018
Mapping the Remains with Lisa Temple-Cox at Cuckoo Farm Studios . UK . 2017
Functionally United . curated by Cris Moss . White Box Gallery . Portland . 2017
Piano Push Play . founded by Megan McGeorge . Downtown Portland . 2016
Words, Words, Words . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . 2015
PNW Photo Drawers . Blue Sky Gallery . 2013
Remembering is Everything . Altar Space Gallery . San Francisco, CA . 2013
The Turtle Salon . Hardy Tree Gallery . London, UK & The Meter Room . Coventry, UK & Galerie Ivana de Gavardie & Arnaud Lefebvre Galerie . Paris, France 2011 – 2012
The Paper Quilt Project . Berkeley Art Center . Berkeley, California . 2011
Visitors . Traywick Contemporary . Berkeley, California . 2011
The Shape of the Problem . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . Portland, Oregon . August 2011
Special Edition . PrintRoom . Rotterdam, The Netherlands . curator Serge Onnen . 2011
Of Walking on Ice . Soil Gallery . Seattle & White Box Gallery . Portland . curator Jack Ryan . 2010
Oregon Biennial 2010 . Disjecta (now Oregon Contemporary) . curator Cris Moss . Portland . 2010
threshold . Ditch Projects . Springfield, Or . curator Mike Bray . 2009
Still-Life . 533 Gallery in Los Angeles & Milepost 5 in Portland . curator Anna Fidler . 2009
The Animal Gaze . London Metropolitan University . London, UK & Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (Exeter) . curator Rosemarie McGoldrick . 2009
The Butterfly Effect . Leftbank . Portland Institute for Contemporary Art Portland, Oregon . 2008
Aqua Art Fair . Miami, Florida . 2007
NYSCC MFA Show . J. Cacciola Gallery . NYC . 2007
Usufruct . Linfield College . McMinnville, Or . curator Seth Nehil . 2007
Pressing Pause . Zeitgeist Gallery . Nashville, Tennessee . 2007
_scope . Vitrine Gallery . St. Jean Port Joli, Quebec . 2007
On Others . with Greg Pond, Steven Thompson, Patrick DeGuira, and Jack Ryan . Rhodes College . Memphis, Tennessee & Iron Gate Studios . Austin, Texas . 2005 – 2006
25 Years of Drawing in The Art Gym . Marylhurst University . curator Terri Hopkins . 2005
Closer In . Contemporary Arts Center . North Adams, Massachusetts . curators Ven Voisey and Heather Phillips . 2004
Empire Builders . Zeitgeist & Ruby Green Galleries . Nashville, Tennessee . 2004
Intense Focus . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . Portland . Oregon 2004
Core Sample . Second Cycle curated by Stephanie Snyder & Capture and Release curated by MK Guth . Portland, Oregon . 2003
Outdoor Sculpture Invitational . Maryhill Museum of Art . Goldendale, Wa . curator Lee Musgrave . 2003
Bibliocosmos . Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery . Reed College . curator Stephanie Snyder . 2003
Modern Zoo . PCAC . Cathedral Park Place . Portland, Oregon . 2003
Blood and Guts Forever . Marylhurst University Art Gym . Portland, Oregon . curator Brad Adkins . 2003
Beamsplitters . Machine Works, Portland, Oregon . curators Bill Daniel and Rankin Renwick . 2002
Pacific Northwest Annual . Bellevue Art Museum . Washington . curator Sue Spaid . 2001
2001 Oregon Biennial . Portland Art Museum . curator Bruce Guenther . 2001
Snow . Good/Bad Arts Collective Gallery . Brooklyn, NY . 1999
Curation:
Portrait Gallery . collaboration and curation with cleanNFT community animators . 2022-2025
Digital Garden . Protoworld . digital art exhibit . 2023
Flora / Fauna . digital art co-curated with Michelle Brown . Voxels . Earth Day . 2021
Translating the Animal . East Greenhouses at Oregon State University & Ecomedia Conference . University of Oregon . 2018
Optic Gallery . Corvallis, Oregon . 2016 – 2017
Circles and Spinning Wheels & if i could crowd all my souls into that mountain . PICA TBA Festival . 2009 / Echo Park Film Center . Los Angeles, CA . 2011
The Disappearing Book . exhibited at Reading Frenzy . 2008
Dissecting Portland . Hallwalls . Buffalo, NY / Cornell University Theater . Ithaca, NY / Alfred University . 2006
SmartWall . Alfred University Student Video Gallery . 2006 – 2007
Sleeping in the Woods . Modern Zoo . Portland, Oregon . 2003
1000 Crowns . International Mail Art Exhibit . SVA . 2000
Circus . International Mail Art Exhibit . University of Oregon . 1998
Included in book and web publications:
Unlikely . Birds and Language . edited by by Madeleine Kelly and Jen Valender . 2023
Pearl Hyacinth featured in the movie Made in Second Life by Draxtor Despres . 2023
Contributed to Tezos comic zine Sloth #6 . edited by Burka Bayram and Ozan Bilaloğlu . 2022
Featured in The Tickle . edited by Johnny Dean Mann . 2022
Forty Years . Elizabeth Leach Gallery . 2021
Portland Artist Stamps . Stamp No. 14 . 2019
Meeting a Beluga, Animalia Vegetalia Mineralia . Ano V . Número X . curated by Ilde Castro . 2018 – 2019
The Community, Writings About Art in and Around Portland by Jonathan Raymond . Publication Studio . 2016
LEAF LITTER #7: Unwalking the West . Signal Fire . 2015
Curator and Critic Tours . Connective Conversations . Inside Oregon Art . The Ford Foundation and University of Oregon . 2015
album . Artist Portraits of Artists . Art Gym 30th Anniversary Exhibition . 2010
bear Deluxe #28 . Orlo . Melody Owen . 2008
Spork Press . Issue 4.3 . editor Kevin Sampsell . 2006
Core Sample: Portland Art Now . Clear Cut Press . essays by Stephanie Snyder and Lawrence Rinder . 2004
Eye-Rhyme literary journal . issue 7: Roses Are Red . Pinball Publishing . 2004
A Common Pornography . Kevin Sampsell . 2002
2001 Portland Biennial Catalog . Portland Art Museum . 2001
My published books:
When I Was Nineteen, I Was an Old Man (Dream Journals) . published by Scout Books and Future Tense Books . 2013
Looking Glass Book . published by Publication Studio . 2012
So Close to the Glass and Shivering . essay by Jonathan Raymond . published by Marylhurst University . Art Gym . 2010
The Disappearing Book . published by Container Corps . 2010
Directed Music videos:
Official music video . 14th Floor by Auld Spells . 2020
Official music video . animation by Zak Margolis . That’s The Way It Goes by Auld Spells . 2020
Unofficial (sanctioned) music video . camera by Michael H. Shamberg . Once but Never Again by Luz Elena Mendoza and Nick Jaina . 2017
Unofficial (sanctioned) music video . Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler by Thee Quasi . 2015
Official music video . camera by Matt McCormick . We by The Golden Bears . 2012
Screenings and festivals:
Silent Blaze . High Zero – experimental improvisation festival . Baltimore/Twitch . collaboration with Dana Reason . 2020
An Apple for my Teacher (Dana Reason Ensemble). Improvisation Summit of Portland . Oregon Contemporary . 2018
Brackish Reports . Newport Art Center . Newport . curated by Tom Webb . 2018
Boathouse Microcinema . Screening with Stephen Slappe . 2017
Tree Farm (video from Oregon) . Human Resources LA . Los Angeles . curator Jesse Sugarmann . 2011
A Natural Selection . NW Film Forum in Seattle . curator Rankin Renwick . 2009
PDX Film Festival . Clinton Street Theater . Portland, Oregon . May 9 . 2009
For Robert . National Gallery of Art, DC . curator Michael H. Shamberg . 2009
Local Sightings . Northwest Film Forum Seattle . curator Karl Lind . 2008
Turtle in The Tank . The Tank . NYC . curator Michael H. Shamberg . 2008
Team Spirit Animal Squad . The Zipper Factory . NYC . curator Tanya Gagne . 2008
The 60 Second Southern Video Festival . Fugitive Projects . Harmony Landing . Nashville, Tennessee . 2007
Monkeytown Semiannual . Brooklyn, NY . November 30 . 2007
stumptown girls . The Empty Vessel . Brooklyn, NY . curator Gretchen Hogue . 2006
Film and Video from Portland, Oregon . Royal College of Art . London, UK . curator Claire Fowler . 2006
Sound + Vision . ZKM Germany . curator Alexandria Lakin . 2005
PDX Film Festival Invitationals . Portland, Oregon . curator Matt McCormick . 2004
Artist talks, presentations, and readings:
Spatial Art PDX (gathering and presentations). Virtua Gallery . 2025
International Symposium of Electronic Arts . EVERYWHEN . Brisbane, Australia . 2024
World Listening Day . collaboration with Dana Reason . 2024
VRTO . 2 virtual presentations . invited to speak by Keram Malicki-Sánchez . Toronto/online . 2020
ASAP/10 . Panel . invited to speak by Heather Houser . New Orleans . 2018
Brackish Report . Environmental Humanities Conference . OSU . 2018
Zoomorphic Interlace . Minding Animals . Mexico City . 2018
Zoomorphic Interlace . Curiosity Club . Portland . 2017
Artist talk . invited to speak by Julie Green . Oregon State University . 2017
Tree Rings . Lane County Historical Museum . 2017
Avatar Identity . Oregon State University . Identity Conference . 2017
Tree Rings . Valley Library . OSU . 2016
Cutaway World . Curiosity Club at Hand/Eye. 2015
Artist talk . Portland State University . 2014
River Report . invited to speak by Kevin Sampsell . Powell’s Books . 2014
When I was 19, I was an Old Man . invited to speak by Kevin Sampsell . IPRC . 2014
Sewanee University . invited to speak by Greg Pond . Tennessee . 2012
Reed College . invited to speak by Stephanie Snyder . 2008
Pacific Northwest College of Art . invited to speak by Haley Barker . 2008
Rhodes College . speaking with the other artists of On Others exhibit . Memphis, Tennessee . 2006
Portland State University . invited to speak by Harrell Fletcher . 2004
Watkins College of Design . invited to speak by Greg Pond . Tennessee . 2002
Sewanee University . invited to speak by Greg Pond . Tennessee . 2002
Selected reviews and interviews:
Brackish Reports . Oregon Coast Council for the Arts . 2018
Blurring Boundaries interview with Carly Lettero of Spring Creek Projects . 2018
Melody Owen Makes Waves . The Corvallis Advocate . Stevie Beisswanger . 2017
Artforum Critic’s Pick . Stephanie Snyder . December 2015
RADAR Productions . An Interview with Melody Owen . Myriam Gurba . 2013
Oregon Arts Watch . Melody Owen Makes a Book . Bob Hicks . 2011
The Oregonian . Melody Owen’s art gets multiple Portland appearances . Bob Hicks . March 19 2010
ARTslant (online) . Melody Owen’s Dada-damaged Collage . John Motley . March 2010
ArtUS (Los Angeles) . Melody Owen . Jacquelyn Davis . Fall/Winter 2008
Portland Mercury . Melody Owen . John Motley . 2007
Art Papers (Atlanta, Ga) . On Others . Julie Roberts . March/April 2006
Number 54: an independent journal of the arts . On Others . Joe Nolan . Fall 2005
PSU Daily Vanguard . The Unrequited Love of Melody Owen . Eva Lake . 2004
Torch Songs . Portland Mercury . 2004
The Organ . Camela Raymond . 2002-3
Willamette Week . Queen Bee . Lisa Lambert . 2002