Rate My Professor Melanie Clemmons

Melanie Clemmons serves as the Claire Morris Spaht Chair in the Division of Art and Associate Professor of Art in Digital/Hybrid Media at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she also holds the position of Director of Undergraduate Studies. She earned her MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2015, a BA in Photocommunications from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas in 2008, and completed studies in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University in 2010. As a new media artist, Clemmons works across video and installation, net art, digital fabrication, and live visual performances, exploring themes of internet culture, speculative futures, digital ethics, virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing, and the societal impacts of rapidly advancing digital technologies. Her practice draws from early experiences with CD-ROM games, proto-social media sites like Angelfire and GeoCities, and underground DIY art spaces, evolving into immersive works addressing the virtuality continuum and augmented reality accessibility.

Clemmons joined Southern Methodist University in 2017 as Assistant Professor of Digital/Hybrid Media, advancing to her current associate professor role. Previously, she was a Lecturer at the University of Colorado Boulder from 2015 to 2017 and Instructor of Record there from 2012 to 2015. She has received the Sam Taylor Fellowship Award in 2022, Smithsonian Institute recognition in 2021, TACA Pop-up grants for AURORA’s BOREAL CRUSH PACK in 2020, Summer Research Grants from Meadows School of the Arts from 2018 to 2020, Just in Time Teaching Grant from SMU’s Center for Teaching Excellence in 2017-2018, and Faculty Development Grant from Meadows School of the Arts in 2017. Key solo exhibitions include BOREAL CRUSH PACK at Gilfélagið Society in Akureyri, Iceland and SRO Photo Gallery at Texas Tech University in 2022; LIKES CHARGE, LIGHT TEAR at Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas in 2021; LIKES CHARGE at Women & Their Work Gallery in Austin in 2020; and VIRTUAL HEALING at Radial Gallery, University of Dayton in 2019. Group exhibitions feature Ways of Something at Whitney Museum of American Art in 2017, HeK Basel, Scope BLN Berlin, and Dunlop Art Gallery Regina. Clemmons teaches courses such as Introduction to Digital/Hybrid Media, Intermediate Digital/Hybrid Media, Digital/Hybrid Media Workshop, Special Projects in Digital/Hybrid Media, Graduate Seminar, and Mobile Computing & Augmented Reality in the online Master of Arts in Creative Technology program, fostering student adaptability to emerging technologies through flexible, exploratory coursework.