Rate My Professor Melanie Clemmons

Melanie Clemmons serves as the Claire Morris Spaht Chair and Associate Professor of Art in the Division of Art at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she also holds the position of Director of Undergraduate Studies. A new media artist, she specializes in digital/hybrid media, creating works in video and installation, net art, digital fabrication, and live visual performances. Her practice delves into internet culture, speculative futures, and digital ethics, often reimagining digital technologies toward softer, calmer applications. Clemmons earned her MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2015, during which she developed a virtual reality experience for her master’s thesis exhibition, sparking her interest in the virtuality continuum. Prior to her promotion to associate professor, she joined SMU as an assistant professor, bringing her experience in live visuals for bands, art installations for music and art venues, and DIY gallery curation in collaboration with artist Zak Loyd.

Clemmons has exhibited extensively at renowned venues worldwide, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan via Lorna Mills’ Ways of Something, HeK (House of Electronic Arts) in Basel, Switzerland, Scope BLN in Berlin, Germany, Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Women & Their Work Gallery in Austin, and Dieglan Gallery in Akureyri, Iceland. Key solo exhibitions include BOREAL CRUSH PACK at Dieglan Gallery and SRO Photo Gallery at Texas Tech University’s Landmark Arts in 2022, LIKES CHARGE, LIGHT TEAR at Nasher Sculpture Center in 2021, LIKES CHARGE at Women & Their Work Gallery in 2020, and AFTER WORLD CAM at Sweet Pass Sculpture Park in 2019. She teaches courses such as Mobile Computing & Augmented Reality in SMU’s online Master of Arts in Creative Technology program, empowering students by fusing artistic practice with emerging digital technologies. Represented by Liliana Bloch Gallery, Clemmons contributes through faculty artist talks at SMU and as a juror for national calls.